Down Under
There’s “outrage” in Melbourne, Australia, as the council bans vaping from public areas, and a Kiwi vape company embarks on its final ad campaign prior to an impending advertising ban
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by Dave Cross
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The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting the council’s move to extend the smoking ban in eleven public spaces and parks to include vaping, provoking uproar from libertarians, harm reduction experts, and vapers.
The newspaper quotes recent vape convert Andrew Whittle: "Most vapers understand that it is not completely harmless, but it's been shown time and time again to be considerably safer than cigarettes.”
Andrew used to smoke but managed to escape tobacco’s grip thanks to ecigs and juice, but this isn’t how Australian tobacco controllers want him to quit – he’s doing it the wrong way, apparently.
Civil Liberties Australia said: “The local government role and mandate does not extend to lifestyle control, already exhaustively covered by prohibitionist legislation at the Commonwealth and state levels.
“Rules and regulations should be limited to core council functions, not aimed at discriminating against a minority. If council wishes to act on ‘preventative health’ grounds, then it should bar vehicles using diesel fuel from the CBD 24/7, because incessant diesel particulate is proven more dangerous than smoking, let alone vaping.”
Hard reduction expert Colin Mendelsohn believes the action is disproportionate and will only work to keep smokers smoking.
There used to be a time when Australians could look at New Zealand’s reasonable approach to tobacco harm reduction with envy, but this is being lessened with each passing month. A ban on advertising the benefits of vaping is set to come into being shortly leaving many wondering how Kiwi smokers will obtain information or inspiration to switch.
Leading vape entrepreneurs and co-owners of Alt New Zealand and VAPO, Ben Pryor and Jonathan Devery, say the advertising ban will only benefit Big Tobacco.
The ban, they believe, will make it impossible for Kiwi brands to differentiate themselves from international tobacco companies now selling vape products in New Zealand, and harder for Kiwi vapers keen to support local businesses and jobs in this Covid-19 environment.
“Alcohol advertising is allowed yet vaping which has helped achieve record-low smoking rates and hasn’t killed one Kiwi, is not. It makes little sense and will simply lead to less New Zealanders giving up cigarettes,” says Ben Pryor.
Parliament is expected to pass the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill this week before rising for the election campaign.
While the bill sees a broad prohibition on vaping advertising, public health messages, approved by the Director-General of Health, such as in smoking cessation campaigns, will be permitted.
“The industry would be very happy to use its profits to promote vaping as an incredibly effective way to quit smoking. We would adhere to any heavily regulated advertising and message restrictions. Limited advertising works well in the UK, but unfortunately New Zealand businesses will soon lose any opportunity to reach out to smokers,” says Mr Pryor.
The local company’s latest advertising campaign highlights Alt as New Zealand’s most trusted smoking alternative which has helped 100,000 Kiwis to put the fire out on smoking. The market leader also reinforces that cigarettes are the single greatest source of ocean trash, with Alt the only brand with recyclable pods.
This follows Alt achieving a unique partnership with TerraCycle, where customers are encouraged to recycle their devices and pods by dropping them off at a VAPO store. Alternatively, e-cigarette waste can be sent free through the post. The recycling initiative also sees Alt and VAPO donate to the charity Sustainable Coastlines.
Other issues industry and smokefree advocates have with the legislation to regulate vaping is the move to allow specialist vape stores to sell a wide range of flavours, while general retailers can only sell three flavours. Advocates strongly believe accessing vape flavours is key to adults kicking smoking.
“Banning advertising may be well intentioned, but it won’t stop people from trying vaping as MPs hope. It will only slowdown smokers from successfully making the switch, and that is not a good public health outcome,” says Ben Pryor.
Related:
- Alt’s ads, YouTube – [link]
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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