Here's the thing: I am a teenager. Why is that important? Well, to YouTube my age is everything. In YouTube's mind, I must like Pop, rebel against authority, and most certainly: Vape.
Now, I can't entirely blame them for thinking this. There is a vaping problem in America and amongst my peers. I've seen it with my own eyes and certainly seen those around me affected by it. But although I certainly have opinions about those who vape, I think I may have even stronger opinions about what is being done about it. More specifically, the commercials.
When I was a bit younger, the same organization that is now making these commercials, used to focus on stopping smoking. They still dip their toes into those waters now, don't get me wrong, but with the rise in our Vaping 'epidemic,' they have turned their eyes to a new issue. There are problems I have with the idea of making commercials about this though.
The most common commercial I get is about a zit- yes, a zit. The idea is that popping a zit in your mouth is a gross thought that can easily be put into your head, similar to how nicotine works. The charming video is accompanied by the lovely sound of a dramatic juicy pimple being popped...delicious. They make other videos similar to this including eating toenails and biting into a maggot filled strawberry. (Of course, all with their own accompanying sounds, mind you.)
The idea that this concept would make me (or anyone else for that matter) feel anything but disgusted is beyond me. Sure, I am supposed to be grossed out, but not in the way they want me to. I don't connect the messages they're trying to send me with the imagery they so wonderfully conjured into my mind. All I do is get angry that this is even being shown to me. Do they think that playing the sound of crunchy toenails is going to magically make me never want to vape? Or stop vaping if I were vaping? There is a message to this, sure, but it is poorly presented. I am left just feeling annoyed and grossed out.
They have commercials that are somewhat better well done. But one step forward, eleven steps back. They have commercials of all types of annoying. The idea is to try to connect with the youth when not one of the old geezers on their marketing team even talks to their own children to see how unrealistic their ideas of them are. I would say the most engaging ones are the little stop motion animations of the lungs. Those are easy to watch... if I have to. But there are other commercial of a guy doing magic tricks in the streets with vapes he receives from young people. He'll do something like make the vape turn into a cigarette, or turn one vape into four. The reactions from the participants are idealistic for their cause. All the vaping youth walk away saying something like, "I don't want my vaping to turn into smoking." I can't stand these videos either. They grind my gears with how forced and staged they are. (Imagine a political version of those "real people' car commercials.)
At the end of the day, I don't vape, I don't care if you vape, I don't care about vaping period. I only care about vaping if it happens to slither its way into my personal life. Whether that be in the form of wanting to walk into the bathroom without smelling bubblegum vape flavoring, or these annoying commercials. The fact of the matter is, I don't think vaping is good for you. But I don't know how bad it is either. Yes, I know there have been an increasing amount of teens experiencing lung problems in result of vaping. But these are so new that I don't think there is enough research to decide if the act of vaping is truly bad. I don't think vaping should be used just because some fifteen year old E-boy wants to fit in. It has a use and I think the age you can buy one should be raised. (For some states, you can buy a vape before you can buy cigarettes.) There is also the whole other issue of the dab pens. However, there needs to be more research into the effects of vaping. That is why I get irritated with the so called 'facts' on these commercials. A lot of their information is not set in stone. Maybe it is true now, just like every month they decide whether coffee is good or bad for you. But for the majority of people, and especially teens, telling someone 'no' just doesn't work.
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