The Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA) is the only pan-European association aimed at uniting national associations, companies, manufacturers and wholesalers in the vaping industry and providing them with responsible representation at the European level. IEVA’s founding principle is to contribute to harm reduction and public health. E-cigarettes have a significant positive impact and should be recognized as a harm reduction tool because vaping is not smoking.
The Independent European Vape Alliance says the joint signing of the new Code is a very good sign of responsibility.
The Code for Responsible Marketing contains 14 mandatory principles. The main focus of the code is that “e-cigarette marketing should not make vaping seem appealing to minors”. [1]
Dustin Dahlmann, President of IEVA, said: “As confident as we are that e-cigarettes have significant harm reduction potential, we also recognize that they must be marketed responsibly. The signatories therefore only address adult smokers and e-cigarette users with their advertising and marketing to inform them about the products. Youth protection is imperative for us. We are very glad that we agreed on this with our dear colleagues from China.”
Here are some of the principles from the Code:
- “Warnings: E-cigarette advertisement must contain clear warnings and references that the ad is exclusively intended for adult smokers and vapers.”
- “Placement: E-cigarettes may not be advertised in establishments or at events which are mainly frequented by children and teenagers. A minimum distance of 100 meters must be maintained to the main entrance of schools.”
- “Appeal to minors: E-cigarette advertising abstains from using cartoon characters and other fictional characters that could trigger the interest of minors.”
- “Product design: The products must not be designed in any way to be particularly appealing to minors. Appealing in this context is the presentation using comic figures, the depiction of candies and generally any visual representation that can attract the attention of minors in a special way.”
- “Health Professions: Advertisement for e-cigarettes does not contain persons, who represent health occupations or create the impression that the products would have a medical effect.”
Sources:
- Responsible Marketing, Independent European Vape Alliance, October 2022. 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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