Is Vaping Safe?
Vaping A Growing Trend Among Young Adults and Teens:
Market segmentation subsets market based on priorities, needs, and demographics. By doing this your able to target directly a market of customers that resonates more with the ad or message your trying to convey. This is what Vaping companies took advantage of a growing trend and used it in order to market onto adults who were trying to quit smoking and teens that were curious or have smoked before.
Based on the Wall Street Journal Article titled Pursuit of A Vaping Mystery By Stu Woo on September 24 2019. There has been ongoing raise of Vaping related illness reported in several hospitals. “Health Authorities now count 530 confirmed and probable cases of the vaping related illness across 38 states and one U.S territory” (The Wall Street Journal). Many patients are told to let vaping go when showing negative signs such as shortness of breath, extreme weight loss, and gastrointestinal issues as well as constant coughing. However just like any drug most vape devices either carried THC Marijuana or some amount of Nicotine. Many of the reported cases which would be 61% of patients surveyed were smoking nicotine.
Power of Branding
Moreover, considering the effect target marketing had imagine the power of branding. Now when one thinks of a vaping company. Juul is the first one that comes to mind to many young teenagers and adults. Posters could be found at few local gas stations and colorful flavors and logos were used to attract teens. Modern Text in order to portray maturity and packaging was similar to Apple products. From the start it was young adults and teens that were being targeted to use the products. “Instagram posts show young couples face to face, mingling exhaled vapor with tag lines like “Share Juul” or Give Juul”(Forbes). Showing an ongoing theme that it was to be used and shared at parties. Based on the article found on The Wall Street Journal written by Jennifer Maloney titled U.S Starts Criminal Inquiry Into Juul on September 24 2019. Juul Labs is being investigated on whether or not marketing tactics were used to target minors. However when asked by the San Francisco Company they mention that “it never marketed to teens and that its products are intended for adult cigarette smokers who want to switch.” (The Wall Street Journal)
Impact of Consumer Culture
Furthermore, in regards to the concept of consumer culture positioning vaping company overall were able to capture a lot of customers by becoming the “safer” option in regards to smoking the alternative a traditional cigar. Basically this culture was considered stylish alternative reason why there is an array of color options available. According to Pew Research Center “Roughly one-third of these students (31%) said they used an e-cigarette because of availability of flavors such as mint, candy, fruit…”. Now in the article in Wall Street Journal titled Getting Through to Your Teen About Vaping written by Andrea Petersen on September 23 2019 Print Version. Now they are “27.5% of high school students…” using e-cigs and vape pens. (The Wall Street Journal) Overall it took market segmentation, branding and consumer culture tactics in order to bring popularity towards vaping devices it’s going to take the same amount of effort and methods to decrease usage of these devices among the young generation.
References
Chaykowski, Kathleen. “The Disturbing Focus Of Juul’s Early Marketing Campaigns.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 16 Nov. 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2018/11/16/the-disturbing-focus-of- juuls-early-marketing-campaigns/#7b98b21414f9.
Maloney, Jennifer. “U.S Starts Criminal Inquiry Into Juul .” The Wall Street Journal , 24 Sept. 2019, p. B1.
Petersen, Andrea. “Getting Through to Your Teen About Vaping .” The Wall Street Journal , 23 Sept. 2019, p. A14.
Schaeffer, Katherine. “Before Recent Outbreak, Vaping Was on the Rise in U.S., Especially among Young People.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 26 Sept. 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/26/vaping-survey-data-roundup/.
Woo , Stu. “Pursuit of A Vaping Mystery .” The Wall Street Journal , 24 Sept. 2019, p. A10 .
