Reed Co-Authors Report Showing E-Cigarette Marketing Campaigns Targeting Young Users

Press Release

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today joined with ten Members of Congress in releasing a report that documents a significant increase in the marketing of electronic cigarettes -- or e-cigarettes -- to young audiences. The report, "Gateway to Addiction? A Survey of Popular Electronic Cigarette Manufacturers and Marketing to Youth," shows e-cigarette makers are making a concerted effort to reach young Americans through robust social media campaigns and sponsorship of youth-oriented events, in addition to broadcast advertisements. The report was compiled using responses from eight of the major e-cigarette manufacturers themselves, in addition to publicly-available information gathered by the lawmakers in the course of their investigation into the growing industry.

In releasing the report, the lawmakers renewed their March 2014 call for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate the rapidly evolving market of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products. Nicotine is highly addictive, but there are currently no age restrictions or standardized warning labels on e-cigarette devices.

"This report highlights a disturbing trend in the marketing of e-cigarettes to young people and getting them to become e-cigarette smokers. E-cigarette manufacturers should have to play by the same rules as others in the cigarette industry. We have come a long way since I proposed legislation in the late nineties to keep tobacco companies from advertising to children, but federal law has not kept pace with new nicotine delivery products," said Reed. "The FDA should expand its regulatory oversight to include these e-cigarette products and move quickly to curtail the marketing of these nicotine devices to young people."

In addition to Senator Reed, the report was backed by lead authors U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), as well as U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA); John D. Rockefeller (D-WV); Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR); and U.S. Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ).

Electronic cigarettes, also called e-cigarettes and e-cigs, are battery-operated products that simulate traditional cigarettes by converting cartridges of liquid typically filled with addictive nicotine, other additives, and flavorings into vapor inhaled by the user. Currently, e-cigarettes, nicotine liquids, and nicotine dissolvable products are not subject to federal laws and regulations that apply to traditional cigarettes, including a ban on marketing to youth.

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