Collection: Freedom Social Stigma

As the dangers of smoking become too hard to ignore and the manipulative ways of the tobacco industry come to light, electronic cigarettes (e-cigs), which contain no tobacco and produce no second hand smoke, are on the verge of becoming the new norm.

Fin, a leading brand of e-cigs, targets its advertisements towards smokers who are “tired of being ostracized” with the pitch, “Rewrite the Rules.” The advertising campaign, which includes images of a woman smoking inside a dinner and near a gas tank, pitches the message that it is “O.K. to smoke (vape) again.

Other e-cig brands are not as subtle in pitching the same message to their intended target audience. An ad for Breathe Fresh e-cig brand shows the image of a loving couple in a warm embrace accompanied by the tagline, “the only way to smoke socially.” The brand Wink says that their product is “all flavor, no guilt.”

Celebrity endorser Jenny McCarthy, promoting Blu e-cigs in a television and online ad, says her e-cigs points out that since she switched to e-cigs, she is the envy of every smoker at a party. She also adds that she no longer has to step out to smoke and continue to have a conversation with her date while using her e-cig.

While e-cigs can promise many kinds of freedoms to users, the one freedom that they cannot offer is the freedom from addiction.