Back To School Vaping Press Kit

Tobacco Stops With Me (TSWM), a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, is a public health intervention that provides efficient, emotional and highly recognizable tobacco prevention messages for Oklahomans to rally around. One pillar of TSWM’s messaging strategy is creating awareness for the youth vaping epidemic.

In Oklahoma, 21.7% of high school students use e-cigarettes, compared to a 14.1% national average. It is estimated that among parents with children who use e-cigarettes, only 40% are aware that their children vape. Underage e-cigarette use often leads to addiction, making way for a lifetime of tobacco-related harm to users.

The FDA often sets regulations and bans on e-cigarette companies, restricting malicious vape flavors and designs that are clearly built to addict youth. Despite this, many e-cigarette companies jump through hoops to design products that are sleek, attractive and deceptive. E-cigarette products that are designed to be disguised as USB drives, pens and pencils, highlighters are more are popular among underage users. These dangerous products can easily hook teens into a lifetime of tobacco addiction. To bring awareness to this issue, TSWM created and distributed over 15 press kits to urban and rural Oklahoma media stations, spreading awareness about the dangers of disguised nicotine products.

These kits intentionally focused on one e-cigarette product to illustrate the tricky ways vapes are designed and marketed to attract kids and for kids to conceal the products from parents and teachers.

Each press kit was designed like a common pencil box, with design elements inside the box showcasing school supplies. Standing out among these supplies was the e-cigarette, clearly disguised to look like a highlighter. Supporting materials in the press kit educated on the dangers of vapes and the many ways they can be hidden and disguised, as well as examples of resources available for parents to stay aware and discuss the dangers of vaping with their kids. Kits also provided media recipients with resources and information to run a news story about the issue, including a press release. These kits were distributed around back-to-school season.