Electronic cigarettes (e-cig), also known as personal vapourizers (PV) or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) are the new line of hope for smokers who want to quit the habit. They are battery-operated  devices that use a heating element, known as an atomizer to heat up and vapourize a solution made up of propylene glycol, glycerin, nicotine and other flavours to produce smoke that stimulates tobacco-smoking. 

The e-cig concept is a brilliant idea to assist smokers in quitting, by addressing both the addictive and behavioural aspects of smoking sans the plethora of dangerous chemicals. 1 500 companies are official American manufacturers of the product, and brought in approximately $2 million in revenue last year.

The problem, however, lies in the marketing conducted by the e-cig companies. Companies that sell e-cigs are facing heat for propagating the image of smoking without harm amongst impressionable children and youth.

They are further facing scrutiny for using the names of familiar and famous brands associated with children of all ages, to advertise their flavours of e-cigs. For example, one company uses the name “Thin Mint”, a prominent type of Girl Scout cookie, to describe a minty flavour of e-cigs. Other flavours have names such as “Junior Mints”, “Gummy Bears” and “Cherry Cola”.

“Using the Thin Mint name — which is synonymous with Girl Scouts and everything we do to enrich the lives of girls — to market e-cigarettes to youth is deceitful and shameless,” Girl Scouts spokeswoman Kelly Parisi said in a statement.

E-cig companies faced similar hostility for marketing their products using famed cigarette brand names and logos, such as Marlboro and Camel.  Linc Williams, board member of the American E-liquid Manufacturing Standards Association and an executive at NicVape, an e-cig company, is of a different opinion on the matter. According to him, this sort of marketing should be expected due to the novel entrepreneurial nature of a small company trying to gain traction and become a renowned company with real corporate ethics.

The U.S. Food and Drug administration proposed the increased regulation of e-cigs last month. It didn’t, however, prohibit the use of candy flavours altogether, which are banned for use in regular cigarettes to avoid appeal for children.