Tobacco Use Effects on Youths and Youths as a Target Demographic

By Ashwin Vasudevan

It’s not uncommon nowadays to see a high school student with a vape or a new line of electronic smoking devices behind the cash register of your local drugstore. Using creative marketing strategies, tobacco companies have successfully drawn attention to the youth user population. Shifted expenditures and tactics such as price discounts, digital advertising, coupons, and payments to ensure prime retail space has placed these companies in an optimal position to target youth.

Recently, marketing has been heavily focused on flavored products which have been rapidly increasing in popularity. The advent of flavors in the market has become an avenue through which tobacco companies can expand and intrigue a younger audience. In just 2014, there were a total of 7,765 flavors and 466 brands selling. We can assume that this number has only increased today.

Looking at survey data from the local Pleasanton Unified School District, in Alameda County, California, the usage of electronic and flavored tobacco products by high school students has increased by 25% between the years 2015 and 2020. The 13% of students that used vaping devices in the past month increased to 37% in just five years. The unfortunate reality is that this number is growing, not only in Pleasanton, but in many counties and districts across the nation.

When we examine this issue with a broader lens, we begin to notice that it impacts some groups of individuals more than others. In particular, it places youth from working class families at a greater disadvantage. Seventy-two percent of smokers are from lower-income communities, and it is something that we often don't recognize. Of the estimated 375,000 tobacco retailers in the United States, a majority of them are disproportionately located in under-resourced neighborhoods. The targeted marketing strategies listed earlier are ways tobacco companies can ensure that the low-income demographic, in particular, youth, will continue to have easy affordable access to tobacco and vape products. With the products being highly addictive, people often use them for a long time, especially when they start at a young age.

Currently, tobacco companies still have a strong hold over our youth and are continuing to expand and take advantage of more low-income communities. There has been an increase in public health and community organizing efforts over the past few years to help youth, especially lower-income youth, from being introduced to tobacco and vaping. These education campaigns and policy changes have successfully prevented over 587,000 youth ages 11 to 19 from initiating smoking. There are ways to create change and this includes being more involved in local politics and passing local regulations. With the help of the community, Pleasanton recently passed its first tobacco retail licensing policies in 2020. Let’s come together and make sure that the next generation of youth will escape the cycle of tobacco and vape addiction and enjoy their gift of health.