Day TO #UNFOLLOWBIGVAPE
Part of the issue is that Singapore’s smoking prevention strategies, while well-intentioned, lack the detail to counterbalance business stories.
If a scholar, while waiting for the MRT, watches a TikTok picture of an influence smoking, then looks up and sees a federal banner warning that “vaping is illegal”, the communication feels disconnected.
The issue is that younger people frequently don’t realize they are being manipulated by the business. They blunder their social media feed for truth, and reject government anti-vaping campaigns as biased and patriarchal.
Elimination efforts must move beyond fear tactics to teaching young people about how the industry carefully markets vaping as innocent in spite of overwhelming proof. Campaigns could show how the business uses influencers to persuade young people that “everyone vapes” or how they fund false claims that “vaping is healthy” to undermine legitimate knowledge, for instance.
Schools may also instruct students to recognize deceptive marketing strategies in order to help them distinguish between reliable data from industry-funded content because there is so much garbage out there.
Engagement is even vital. Anti-vaping work need to have relevant, interesting information on programs where young people spend their time, like TikTok and Instagram. Peer-led strategies featuring fresh advocates are far more compelling than authority-driven warnings.
It’s time to follow Big Vape.
Helen van der Eijk is an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.