Article content

While a teen is scrolling through Instagram, they might come across one of the 3,000 posts published through a hashtag intended to inform them about the dangers and risks of vaping. What’s more likely, however, is that they find one of the 11,000,000 posts made by e-cigarette marketing teams and influencers, made to lure them in to buying their products.

The number of posts promoting and marketing the use of e-cigarettes on Instagram is so massive, it outnumbers posts from awareness campaigns 10,000 to one — which could potentially attract more young people to the habit.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Pro-vaping posts on Instagram outnumbered e-cigarette safety campaign 10,000 to one, study finds Back to video

Initially marketed as a better way to wean off tobacco, e-cigarettes have been steadily rising in popularity. But the products — usually containing the addictive substance nicotine — also grabbed a hold on youth, primarily through the sale of flavoured options.

According to the U.S. National Youth Tobacco Survey, the number of high-school students who said they used e-cigarettes more than doubled from 12 per cent in 2017 to 28 per cent in 2019.