Kids Are Mistaking Tobacco Products For Candy

The Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program has recently released two new commercials. Program Manager Jennifer Ullman says they are trying to bring awareness to the issues surrounding tobacco’s point of sale advertising tactics.

“We are actually just trying to raise awareness about how accessible tobacco products e cigarettes, cigars, and cigarillos are and that all of those products should not be in the hands of kids,” said Ullman. “They are just very accessible to children right now and we are trying to raise awareness about that so that communities can help to protect the children.”

According to Ullman, one of the main problems is how available these products are to kids. She says kids often mistake the tobacco products for candy.

“A lot of these products are just right out in the open on the counter and they are very accessible. Kids can just reach them and they are mistaken for candy quite a lot of times. The tobacco industry is marketing some of these new e cigarettes, vaping products, and cigarillos and making them in candy like flavors. Young elementary school children are going in and getting them confused with candy. That is what they want to buy and they can’t even tell the difference.

The 2015 Youth Risk Behavior survey showed that 50% of Montana High School students have tried electronic cigarettes and about 30% of them are currently users of the product.