Dr Sandy Fitzgerald, Senior Lecturer, Marketing
Topics: vaping, e-cigarettes, smoking, marketing, consumer health and wellbeing
“While there are now policies and budgets in place to stem vaping for good reasons, we need to acknowledge, particularly for people under 25, that these interventions can be perceived as paternalistic, revenue-raising by the government and punitive in orientation.
“The government needs a different approach to their previous anti-smoking campaigns as this is a whole new generation they are targeting.
“Firstly, we need to understand the perspective of vapers and why they try vaping in the first place.
“Young people can gain social capital from vaping. It may be socially rewarding for vapers (especially those under the age of 18) as they will be perceived as 'cool' and belonging to a self-selected in-group among their peers.
“We also need to recognise that once a habit or addiction is established, it takes effort, the right support and social messaging to change.
“A successful campaign must be communicative and make vapers feel that they are not singled out and made to feel that they are stupid or dumb just because they were curious to try vaping in the first place.
"An anti-vaping campaign must also respect that the target audience are curious young individuals with full autonomy to choose and determine their future.
“Anti-vaping campaigns need to present a convincing value proposition for this age group to quit - that vaping robs you of your autonomy and turns you into a pawn.
“How would they feel if targeted information about Big Tobacco is presented to them - that they are simply pawns and are used and controlled by this industry?
“Vapers (who we know are typically under 25) may find that information confronting and perhaps start questioning if they wish to be controlled and have their autonomy stripped away by Big Tobacco because they vape.
“This idea of vaping robbing them of their freedom (once they are addicted) to a successful future (from a monetary perspective), will get them to question who they are vaping for.
“Communicating the message in a school context could be effective by appointing student leaders (who peers look up to) as opinion leaders, to shift the perspective of how vaping takes away one's freedom. Tagline - "You are vaping your freedom away."”
Dr Sandy Fitzgerald is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at RMIT University. Sandy’s research is focused on understanding, measuring and managing the success factors that relate to improving the well-being of consumers, employees and communities. She also investigates the psychological and environmental factors that represent triggers or barriers to individuals who strive to change their current health habits.
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