U.S. E-Cig Industry Still Being Treated Like One Entity Rather Than The 1,500 Businesses That It Is

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Not unsurprisingly some major companies out there are getting wise to the use of their brands for e-liquid flavors. While most e-liquid operations are aware that they won’t get away with flavor brand use for long, some continue to use brands they shouldn’t. Most recently, this has sparked backlash for use of Thin Mints (Girl Scouts of America), Cinnamon Toast Crunch (General Mills), and Tootsie Roll (Tootsie Roll Industries).

All three companies have sent cease and desist orders to e-liquid shops that are using their flavors. And certainly this is their right. It also makes it hard to claim that e-cig companies aren’t marketing to kids when chocolate mint, sugar and cinnamon, and hard chewy chocolate thing flavors are given the brand names kids know and (mostly) love.

However, this issue further highlights anti-electronic cigarette efforts to make the sins of a few look like the sins of the entire industry. It’s believed that there are nearly 1,500 unique businesses in the U.S. that fall within the electronic cigarette industry. It’s very difficult to say that the actions of a few of these companies should reflect on the sensibilities of the whole. But that’s exactly what is being done.

Take this article on e-cig brand fighting from the Huffington Post — which has not been the most balanced when it comes to coverage of electronic cigarettes. A read of the article makes it sound as if almost all or a majority of e-liquid manufacturers engage in this kind of brand stealing. In fact, the only representative of e-cig interests quoted in the article is Linc Williams — a well-spoken and prominent member of the vaping community, but also a representative of a company, NicVape, which has its hand in questionable brand use.

This makes the only quotes in defense of e-cig interests in the story mostly null in reader’s minds. Williams is not a bad guy. But in this circumstance, the article is getting a quote from the minority and spinning it as a representation of the majority of the industry. The same happens when reports (all too often) claim that the e-cig industry claims e-cigs are harmless or safe to use. In fact, many companies avoid that topic in its entirety.

Use of registered brands remains a problem within the industry. Some outfits simply view themselves as too small time to be worth chasing down over brand rights. Like many other issues, as the industry has gotten larger, the availability of knowledge has widened. You simply don’t see companies making health claims like they did three and five years ago. That has very much been because the average e-cig seller is far more educated in what can and can’t be said about their products. This issue is likely to tread much the same course.

However, for the time being, outlets that engage in questionable tactics do make the the industry at large look bad. If nothing else, it only gives ammunition e-cig opponents.