The concept behind the e-cigarette is a noble enough one with less health risks than the traditional form, but it turns out they’re not really doing much to cut down on the cravings for regular cigarettes, in thanks to the marketing surrounding them.

A recent study done at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication found that the advertising done for e-cigarettes is actually leading to more tobacco cravings, despite being marketed as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes. The researchers even suggest that the current marketing campaigns might be dangerous for non smokers.

To do the study, researchers Joseph N. Cappella, Ph.D and Erin K. Maloney, Ph.D, used a sample of 800 participants. All of the participants were considered either smokers or social smokers. They showed the participants some form of e-cigarette marketing material, and then proceeded to ask them questions having to do with cravings.

What they found at the end of the study, was that the advertisements that showed someone using an e-cigarette actually increased the participants desire for tobacco. The advertisements that left out the actual act of vaping had less of an effort however.

The researchers found that 35% of the participants who saw the ads with the vaping chose to have a cigarette, while 22% of those who saw the ads without the vaping chose to have a cigarette. Less so, but it still happened.

It was concluded that this wasn’t too surprising and that it could be expected to continue.

“Given the sophistication of cigarette marketing in the past and the exponential increase in advertising dollars allotted to e-cigarette promotion in the past year, it should be expected that advertisements for these products created by big tobacco companies will maximize smoking cues in their advertisements, and if not regulated, individuals will be exposed to much more e-cigarette advertising on a daily basis.”