E-cigarettes (e-cigs) are often looked at as the sign of hope out there for those addicted to nicotine who are trying to quit the habit.
E-cigs are, honestly, brilliant, but they have recently run into some problems; most of them in marketing.
Companies who manufacture e-cigs are getting a lot of heat from campaigns about marketing towards impressionable children, according to Daily Digest. And now they are facing even more controversy.
E-cigs have begun to use well known “flavors” and brands to get people to buy the product. Arguably to market towards children. For example, one company uses the name “Thin Mint,” after one of America’s favorite Girl Scout cookies.
Other companies use flavors like “Junior Mint,” “Gummy Bear,” and even “Cherry Cola.”
“Using the Thin Mint name — which is synonymous with Girl Scouts and everything we do to enrich the lives of girls — to market e-cigarettes to youth is deceitful and shameless,” Girl Scouts spokeswoman Kelly Parisi.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) passed regulations on e-cigs last month, but did not prohibit the use of candy flavors.
Owners of the brands, according to The Associated Press, are fighting to keep the names of their companies off of e-cigs.
General Mills Inc., the Girl Scouts of the USA and Tootsie Roll are all among those fighting to keep their names “clean.”
The issue has steadily grown larger as e-cigs are becoming used more and more worldwide. The number of users grew from thousands in 2006 to several million this year.
"We're family oriented. A lot of kids eat our products, we have many adults also, but our big concern is we have to protect the trademark," said Ellen Gordon, president of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. "When you have well-known trademarks, one of your responsibilities is to protect (them) because it's been such a big investment over the years."