This Campaign Personifies Vaping as Creepy Men on Teens' Backs

In response to the sharp rise in the use of vaping products by young people across the US, the Evelyn Lilly Lutz Foundation has launched a campaign aimed at getting Beverly youth to stop — or never start — vaping. 

The first phase of this campaign, which was created by McCann Health, starts with a series of short films, called 'Get the Vape off Your Back'. They were directed by SMUGGLER's Björn Ruhmann and use humour to focus on the controlling nature of vaping, while at the same time showing the heavy burden vaping takes on teenagers’ lives and the interruptions it brings to social interactions. 

The short films are the first part of a multi-pronged anti-vaping campaign, which also includes the development of anti-vaping intervention tools that are informed by community advisers and address vaping at the interpersonal level. The Foundation has gathered a group of community members, including parents and health officials, who will meet next week to create strategies that reduce vaping among Beverly teens.

“The rise in teen vaping is a crisis we have to address now. As a pediatrician, these are not just statistics to my colleagues and me, they represent the future lives and health of our youth and our community,” said Suzanne Graves, MD, president of the Evelyn Lilly Lutz Foundation. “We knew that we needed something different, something bold, to reach young people in a way that resonated.”

The number of youths smoking e-cigarettes in US doubled last year to 3.6 million, as found by the 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). According to a report, nearly 50% of Massachusetts high-school students and 10% of middle-school students have tried vaping. Public health experts now see a reversal of the progress made to curb teen smoking with the onset of vaping.

- Nicotine is addictive and e-cigarettes deliver levels of nicotine similar to regular cigarettes.

- Exposure to nicotine is harmful, particularly for youth, whose brains are still developing. It can worsen anxiety, depression, and may increase susceptibility to addiction.

- Besides nicotine, e-cigarettes contain harmful and potentially harmful chemical ingredients. Vaping has been linked to ‘popcorn lung’ and devices themselves can be unsafe, leading to deadly vape explosions.