It’s a victory for anyone who has ever had to walk in the slipstream of a cherry-scented cloud: voters in San Francisco have overwhelmingly backed a measure to restrict the sale of flavoured tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and vaping liquids packaged as juice boxes or candies. Many expected the vote to be close run, but the final tally came out with 68% in favour of proposition E, which has been described as one of the most restrictive policies on vaping in the US.

The proposition passed despite its opponents far outspending groups that support the ban. Much of that funding came from the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, which pumped an estimated $12m into an ad campaign – although judging by the commercials themselves, it’s difficult to see exactly where the budget was spent.

Opposition also came from Greg Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, who denounced the vote as a travesty, bemoaning that “anti-vaping extremists would mislead SF voters into making it harder for adult smokers to quit”.

Health groups in the city, however, have praised the vote as a model for the future. Concerns about a “vaping epidemic” spreading through America’s schools have been on the rise for the past few years, with vaping – or Juuling, as it’s often called, after the most popular brand – reportedly increased by 900% between 2011 and 2015 among high-schoolers. Many see proposition E as an important step against products that entice teenagers into using tobacco products with sweet flavours. Dr Melissa Welch of the American Heart Association, has said she hopes the vote will be the first step in ending “the sale of candy-flavored tobacco before nicotine addiction claims a new generation of young people”.

The results of the vote came on the same day that the FDA announced they were continuing to crack down on vaping among young people. The FDA commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, said in a statement: “We’re going to hold industry participants responsible for actions that promote youth addiction. There’s no acceptable number of children using tobacco products.”

Vaping companies have been aggressively marketing to students, going as far as to offer scholarships so they can appear on top university websites, including Harvard and Berkeley. The scholarships normally involve completing an essay on the dangers of tobacco and whether vaping could be a healthier alternative. Retailers and review websites including SmokeTastic, Slick Vapes and DaVinci Vaporizer have previously offered grants.

Researchers at Georgia State University found that Juul, in particular, had been adept at marketing to young people by reducing spending on traditional ads and focusing on viral social media campaigns that use “artsy, professional-grade photographs to display its products and evoke lifestyle feelings such as relaxation, freedom and sex appeal”. Since then, Juul has launched a new campaign advising teenagers not to use their products.