No longer does it appear that teens are trying to emulate the mysterious smoker looks of John Travolta and Al Pacino; rather, the current youth are looking towards a different vice: vaping. There’s a noticeable trend, especially in the United States, where teenagers are looking down upon the traditional cigarette, and opting for the more technologically advanced and more accomodating e-cigarette, also known as a vape. Teens have gone from smoking carelessly on public school grounds to secluding themselves in bathroom stalls, all for the short-term pleasure of puffing a hasty breath of raspberry-ice-flavored nicotine.
Smoking is, of course, discouraged among people per American cultural standards. This curates questions revolving around what exactly has moved the youth away from the cigarette and towards its modern counterpart. Having seen smoking culture evolve over her years in the education field, AP World History teacher Dr. Jane Kelly has noticed how this generation of teens switched from tobacco to what can be described as “flavored air”.
“The culture is completely different now from what it was even 30 years ago. When I first started teaching, kids would smoke cigarettes in the bathrooms, but they don’t do that anymore. They clearly smoke vapes instead.” Dr. Kelly said. “For the longest time, the association with cigarettes is that you were kind of rebellious and cool. People were always smoking in Quentin Tarantino movies.”
During the 60s, there was this eruption of a counterculture which aimed to combat societal norms that were meant to restrict teenagers. Drugs like nicotine became more widely abused by the youth. Cigarettes, specifically, were the ultimate accessory to deem one a rebel. This is why films such as Grease depict rebellious teen cliques as almost always having a cigarette at hand — which is not too far from the actual history itself, really. Though, of course, the promotion of such a harmful activity came with its consequences.
As studies further proved cigarettes and tobacco to be greatly detrimental to one’s health, a sort of stigma arose concerning those who did smoke, especially out in public.
“We know so much more about the dangers and harm associated with smoking cigarettes. I think vapes were marketed as this, you know, odorless product that did not have the ill effects that cigarettes caused. But now that they’ve become popular, we’re seeing really bad effects,” Kelly said.
Years and years of research into the side effects of cigarettes have given them the title of being gross and harmful, especially considering the fact that they have a strong odor. Vapes, however, don’t leave any scent, a contributing factor to this false idea of them being “healthier.” AP Art History teacher Michelle McCune believes that vapes were sold on a misleading basis.
“I think there was a lot of misinformation about vaping, that it is safer than smoking, but it is not,” McCune said.
The issue with the way vapes are marketed is not only how they are displayed as a better alternative, but the way they are glorified to appeal to their main target audience, which are adolescents.
Vapes are typically marketed with fruity flavors, colorful packaging, and may even sometimes have a toy-like appearance; just about every e-cigarette company follows the same baseline for getting their product to appear as fun and appealing as possible. The issue has been amplified to the point where the U.S Food and Drug Administration has recently acted against typical legal procedure just to regulate the distribution of flavored e-cigarettes, which are, in fact, illegal in the United States. In 2019, the Francis Howell School District actually sued Juul, a huge vape manufacturer, as the amount of teens vaping rose — and continues to rise —to extreme levels.
Additionally, these vape companies are able to reach consumers even more frequently than ever before with the use of social media. Cigarette companies garnered buyers through the help of celebrity endorsements and old films, whereas currently, the vape industry relies on the internet addiction and strained dopamine receptors of vulnerable young minds.
What is surprising about smoking culture in the United States is that it is entirely different compared to most other countries. While cigarettes are characterized by more negative stereotypes in the U.S, senior Berk Atterbery’s experience overseas in his home country of Turkey offers a stark contrast.
“Back in the ninth grade, I had these buddies [over there] who would line up and smoke cigarettes in public, and nobody would say anything. Nobody cares, it’s just a common thing.” Atterbery said.
In the case of Turkey, along with other countries around the globe, cigarettes are abused on a much larger scale; they’re not nearly as demonized as they are here in America. A child taking a puff of a cigarette in the U.S would be seen as utterly appalling, whereas in different countries, it’s simply culture. Atterbery also mentioned that the sale of vapes is illegal in Turkey and has a much smaller market compared to that of cigarettes.
“I think it’s because they don’t want the tobacco industry to go down,” Atterbery said. “In my opinion, I think vaping is a lot worse.”
Smoking as a habit has been passed down from generation to generation, taking up a new form each time. Regardless of which new alternative people are taking up to fulfill their urges, capital gains, aesthetics and culture all drive the nation’s people to the brink of drug abuse. For as long as consumers’ lungs deteriorate from nicotine, the market shall rise to prosperity.
