This week, the New York State Tobacco Control Program (TCP) launched a new campaign that educates parents and other adults about the dangers of e-cigarette use for youth.
The campaign will highlight that 27.4%1 of New York’s high school students use e-cigarettes, a 160% increase from 2014 when 10.5% of youth used e-cigarettes. According to data from the New York State Youth Tobacco Survey, e‐cigarette use has increased between 2014 and 2018 among high school students in every grade level. In 2018, 36.7% of students in 12th grade report current e‐cigarette use.
The campaign stresses to parents and other adults that influence youth that addiction and tobacco use are not a normal phase that youth experience. Industry marketing to youth is driving this epidemic. E-cigarettes and the nicotine content pose a serious health risk to youth, and e-cigarettes are not hazard-free alternatives to combustible tobacco products.
The campaign is built around three television ads created by the California Department of Public Health and the North Dakota Department of Health. The ads highlight the tobacco industry’s pervasive marketing of e-cigarettes to youth and emphasizes that the tobacco industry uses flavors to get youth to try e-cigarettes and become addicted to nicotine.
The ads will air in all New York State media markets on TV and digital platforms. Viewers are encouraged to learn more at health.ny.gov/NoVape.
NYSDOH repurposes television ads from other tobacco control programs to ensure funding is used to deliver the ads rather than the production of the ads. The ads will soon be viewable on the DOH YouTube page.
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