Searching the Internet for Ecigs
A study looks at how we use the Net to locate products and seek out vaping information
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by Dave Cross
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Those funding such studies such as the Twitter research are frequently referred to as Antz. John Ayers from San Diego State University led the research, snappily titled: “Revisiting the Rise of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Using Search Query Surveillance”. Those with time on their hands to read it in full will be struck by the tone; it conveys the sense of a parent struggling to apprehend their child’s favourite type of music and fearing what they don’t understand.
The concern focuses on a shift from the use of “ecig” and “electronic cigarettes” as search parameters to “vaping”. They caution that public health experts and Antz in general make themselves aware of this because, Ayers intimates, we are being nefarious. And by ‘we’, he thinks we are agents of Big Tobacco.
Medicalxpress quotes him: "Labels do matter. When you call it 'vaping,' you're using a brand new word that doesn't have the same historical baggage as 'smoking' or 'cigarette.' They've relabeled it. Health campaigns need to recognize this so they can keep up." Not quite a brand new word though is it, Mr Ayers? And the point is that being a totally different product it shouldn’t come with the historical baggage of the associations you and your colleagues would like to thrust upon it for your own alternative motives.
Ignoring basic facts, he continues: “Big Tobacco has largely taken over the e-cigarette industry. Alongside unchecked marketing and advertising, e-cigarettes have exploded online.” And so fear and misinformation continue to drift out of the Pharma state.
Ayers told journalists that the analysis of Google Trends highlighted the concerns held by health officials and fellow researchers: we are no longer using the words they use – we are no longer hunting for information they put out about what they perceive as being the safety/danger of ecig use. We are looking for products, we are hunting for tips, and we are exchanging stories while roundly debunking the fear agenda.
American vapers made 8,500,000 vape-related searches on Google in 2014, rising by 62% in 2015 and coupled by a decrease in the rate people looked for information on nicotine gum and NRT patches – incredibly poor reading for the purveyors of the traditional yet poorly performing quit-smoking products.
Ayers’ research partner said: “Despite what the media and e-cigarette industry might have you believe, there is little research evidence to support the notion that e-cigarettes are safe or an effective tool to help smokers quit. Given that, we think it's revealing that there were fewer searches about safety and cessation topics than about shopping.”
Maybe it’s time we all started using a new word to describe vaping – just to keep them on their toes.
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 vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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