Recently there has been a spate of vape-dramas in quick succession. Some will turn away from it all through lack of interest while others get involved in placing comments wherever they can find an online outlet. While it might feel amusing or entertaining to onlookers, the events can have serious ramifications for those at the centre of the storm, both emotionally and financially.
Ameravape Technologies achieved fame in the vape community last year by threatening legal action against a popular reviewer. The American company made the Manhattan “competition” mod that the reviewer believed could be dangerous in case of a battery failure. The threats made to the reviewer angered many but then they campaigned against clones despite having videos online of the owner using clones of another manufacturer’s mod and atomiser.
The way Ameravape responded to a bad situation compounded their problems resulting in many vapers swearing to avoid their products in future. The company no longer has a noticeable presence on the web. In the space of three weeks they all but destroyed their business and observers thought that no other vape companies could or would act in such a manner. Then came Hyon USA.
Hyon’s problem does not related to comments about their products, they are upset people are reviewing another product that happens to share some features with their atomiser. The same post-less features that are in Eden Mods’ Rose atomiser, that has been on sale since 2013. Their confrontational attack on reviewers, and issuing an email to them claiming to be a cease and desist notice, only served to antagonise. Rather than back down and apologise for striking at the wrong targets the company has persisted with its bolshie stance.
The cease and desist notice is the same action that Five Pawns the liquid manufacturer took when it attempted to silence a British vendor sharing the truth about a discovered dangerous levels of diketones. The vape community appears to be increasingly annoyed when companies attempt to gag others from telling the truth.
The company claimed there had been a trademark infringement but it became evident they held no trademarks; in fact they hold no protection at all for any intellectual property. Hyon has since filed trademark applications for the names “Evil Monk”, the atomiser they object to, and the name of the company the atomiser’s manufacturer, “Ivogo”. Given the existence of the Monk tobacco company already holding a trademark the chances of Hyon succeeding in their application is slim to nil.
Hyon’s Fernando Solis still refuses to see why his actions have angered so many people in addition to the reviewers themselves – threats are still being issued on the company’s Facebook account. Many see his actions to be creating a second Ameravape and despite manufacturing some nice devices it remains uncertain if they will continue to have a customer base.
The apparent absolute failure of crisis management and civility coming from Ameravape and Hyon leaves few feeling any sympathy. Not so when it comes to Pip, owner and creator of Suicide Bunny eliquids.
Having already weathered storms regarding the contents of her liquids, a Reddit user took advantage of anonymity to attempt to smear her and her company. “This is a throw away account so i dont get sued for telling the truth,” typed the person before streaming a mass of lies. An archive of the twaddle can be found here.
No take-down notices, no cease and desist, Pip responded with a simple post on the Suicide Bunny Facebook page: “I don’t feel the need to even respond to the OP’s drivel; however, for the sake of transparency I will be posting a video of my mixing facility...I feel sad for whoever posted this, all I see is desperation.”
Once more Pip has increased the positive regard for her company through the cultured and calm manner she has responded to events threatening her business. The manner in which she has opened up her business stands as an example to others how visible vape companies need to be in order to weather storms that may come their way.
Although it is not possible to draw comparisons between the despicable action of the Reddit troll and woeful activities of Ameravape and Hyon, all of them hurt our community. While the industry still operates under a form of self-regulation it is the activities of the worst offenders that will feed into the machinations of those seeking to clamp down on vaping. In this light these events go further than being social media gossip fodder, they are signposts of what and what not to do if we seek to impress those that would place legislation on us.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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