The Partial Observer by Jennifer Hill
‘Gamed’ Disposable Vapes: Big Tobacco’s Push To Addict Kids
Video games in vapes are the tobacco industry’s latest tactic to try to addict youth to their products. Yes, you read that correctly. Kids can now get addicted to two things at once: nicotine and gambling.
“Gamed” disposable vapes, like regular ones, come in a range of sweet, fruity, or minty flavors and colorful packaging, which the tobacco industry has long used to attract and tempt youth into trying them. In addition to flavoring, the liquid in e-cigarettes contain glycerols and often high concentrations of nicotine, because the industry knows youth and young adults can become addicted to vaping more quickly and have a more difficult time quitting later on than older adults. Gamed e-cigarettes found online contain 5 percent nicotine or about 50mg of nicotine per vape, the equivalent to roughly two packs of cigarettes.
Embedding vapes with video games adds a steroidal level to attracting and addicting youth. Vaping is now a fun game for kids and gambling for adults, and they are promoted as such. Consider one brand, Lost URSA Pocket Pod, which offers three different video games: Virtual Pet, Puff Count Competition and Slot Machine. Virtual Pet’s screen shows a cute puppy dog and mimics children’s virtual pet games, except with URSA, you “[r]aise your virtual pet with every puff. Earn coins, buy various foods, and watch your pet level up as you enjoy your vaping sessions,” according to one website. Puff Count Competition allows you to “rank your puff count and use the information to win real prizes online,” according to a May 2024 LinkedIn article by Mia Chen, an e-cigarette manufacturer representative. Slot Machine is self-explanatory.
Unlike other gamed vapes, URSA does not come with e-liquid. No worries, online sellers offer a plethora of e-liquids in flavors such as Blue Razz Slushy, Candy King, and Watermelon Mint, as well as tobacco or unflavored options for older adults who tend to eschew flavored products.
The newer Craftbox V-Play 20K Disposable Vape, which Chen says “promises to revolutionize the vaping experience,” has a built-in gaming console, with a 1.77 inch full-color HD display and three retro knock-off games of Pac-Man, Tetris and fighter jets. They come in bright colors and flavors such as Cherry Pop and Yummy Gummy. “20K” means the user will get about 20,000 puffs. In case vape websites’ images and flavors do not grab youth’s attention, an accompanying promotional video called “Puff and Play” should. It opens like a classic video game, with retro blocky font and blip laser noises that quickly segue to flashing, colorful images of the Craftboxes set to fast, energetic music. The vapes’ features are highlighted amid cool, swirling graphics, with Pac-Men gobbling up dots and Star Wars-esque fighter jets swooping and blasting multicolored laser beams. The video ends with the slogan, “We’re gaming your vape.” Indeed they are.
URSA and Craftbox vapes come with child locks, but children who can read at a third-grade level, access the web or just observe people using them can learn quickly how to disable them. Kids can also easily access over 76 percent of vape stores’ websites, even though it is illegal to sell tobacco and nicotine products to persons under 21, by just clicking the “I am 21+” button or typing in a fake birthdate. Kids can buy vapes easily, too, according to research by Truth Initiative, which aims to prevent youth and young adults from becoming addicted to nicotine products. TI reports social media like TikTok “promote ‘discreet shipping’ services that conceal e-cigarettes in cosmetics, candy, and beauty products [and] attempt to circumvent age restrictions on e-cigarette sales as well as parental oversight.” While URSAs and Craftboxes are larger than those items, they are pocket-sized and fairly easy to hide.
The tobacco industry spends $9 billion annually marketing its products to children because it works. Youth are regularly exposed to ads for tobacco products, especially flavored vapes and especially on social media. Research has long shown that the more children see tobacco use in person or on screens, the more likely they will use it and become long-term addicts. Young children watching teens or older adults use the gamed vapes will be drawn to the lights, bells and whistles, splashy colors, and sweet flavors. They will see vaping and playing games as delicious and fun.
Nicotine is not a benign drug. It harms the parts of the adolescent brain that control attention, learning, mood and impulse control. In addition, teens who use nicotine are at higher risk for addictions to other drugs and becoming cigarette smokers. Most youth and young adults who vape want to quit but think they can’t. The New York State Quitline offers an effective cessation texting program, “Drop the Vape.” Text DropTheVape to 88709 and receive free, 24/7, anonymous and confidential support to quit vaping. For additional information, or if you have questions, please e-mail Jennifer.Hill003@sphp.com.
Jennifer Hill is community engagement coordinator for Tobacco-Free Communities: Delaware, Otsego & Schoharie.