E-Cigarette Companies to Begin Advertising on Television

Marketers of e-cigarettes are introducing ad campaigns that borrow ideas from older cigarette commercials, The New York Times reports. The commercials have been accepted by several cable channels, but no broadcast networks have yet agreed to carry them.

Local broadcast stations in major markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle have also agreed to run the ads, the article notes. E-cigarettes are not covered by restrictions on using commercials to sell tobacco cigarettes, because they are not tobacco products.

Ads for one e-cigarette product, Njoy King, include the theme “Cigarettes, you’ve met your match,” while the theme for Blu eCigs is “Rise from the ashes.” Some celebrities have begun to endorse the products.

The ad budget for Njoy King is estimated at $12 to $14 million for the next six months, according to the newspaper. The campaign includes television commercials, ads in print, in stores and online, and events in restaurants and clubs.

Earlier this year, one industry expert predicted that e-cigarettes, currently a small but growing part of the tobacco market, eventually could surpass traditional cigarettes to become a leading tobacco product.

E-cigarettes are designed to deliver nicotine in the form of a vapor, which is inhaled by the user. They usually have a rechargeable, battery-operated heating element, a replaceable cartridge with nicotine or other chemicals and a device called an atomizer that converts the contents of the cartridge into a vapor when heated. E-cigarettes often are made to look like regular cigarettes.