Expert on Why New FDA Ads Will Likely be Ineffective

As part of its “The Real Cost” campaign which was launched last September, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has just released a new television and digital ad campaign, which warns teens about the potential dangers of vaping. Called “Magic,” the tv ads feature street magician Julius Dein, who has approximately 800,000 followers on YouTube.

In the misleading ads, which will air on a select few TV networks, including TeenNick, CW, ESPN and MTV, Dein places a Juul device in a teen’s hand and magically turns it into a cigarette. “Teens who vape are more likely to start smoking cigarettes,” the ads then read. “It’s not magic; it’s statistics,” says the magician in the background.

“‘The Real Cost’ e-cigarette prevention campaign advertising was thoroughly informed by both qualitative and quantitative research,” said Michael Felberbaum, a press officer at the FDA. “The ads will air during TV programs and on networks with a large youth audience.”

Inaccurate Claims

However, renowned professor and American tobacco control expert at the Boston University School of Public Health Dr. Michael Siegel, is unimpressed. Commenting about this ad campaign, he pointed out that highlighting the link between vaping and cigarettes probably won’t ring true to teen vapers, which will make it “completely ineffective.”

“I do not find the ads at all compelling,” said Siegel. “The promise of the ad is that if you vape, you are going to suddenly find yourself smoking. But the experiences that youth are having are not consistent with that. Kids who are vaping are not seeing all their friends who vape starting to smoke.”