It’s been 23 years since the Truth Initiative began educating kids on the effects of tobacco in the form of singing cowboys and glass-filled popsicles. While cigarette smoking among young people has gone down, the popularity of e-cigarettes has caused the group to refocus their efforts on vaping in recent years.
Its latest campaign, “Breath of Stress Air,” focuses on a major reason for nicotine use—anxiety—hoping to show users (and potential users) that while it may seemingly provide relief, research has shown that young people who quit vaping or smoking tend to be less anxious, stressed, and depressed than those who don’t.
But even with vaping rates potentially down, a government survey last year found that 2 million teens and kids vape. And a recent Morning Consult survey found that 25% of e-cigarette users picked up the habit during the pandemic. So, can the organization replicate the success it says it saw in curbing cigarette use given modern challenges?
Debunk and de-stress
“Breath of Stress Air” is a follow-up to last year’s “Depression Stick” campaign, which also focused on debunking mental-health myths often associated with tobacco use. Robin Koval, CEO of Truth Initiative, told us it was important for the group to reach nicotine users and dispel notions of vaping as a stress reliever, which “the tobacco industry has propagated.”
Jono Paull, group creative director at Mojo Supermarket, the agency behind both campaigns, told us that both “Stress Air” and “Depression Stick” were inspired by research on what would resonate best with 15–24 year-olds. “The data around vaping and mental health showed us that this was an issue that Gen Z really cared a lot about,” he said.
Anyone who’s seen a “that girl” TikTok or YouTube video can attest that wellness is a popular topic on social media. Paull said the campaign took note of wellness and meditation content whose popularity was “particularly exacerbated by the pandemic” to develop the creative vision of the hero spot, which instructs viewers to “breathe in” and “breathe out.”
By running the campaign on Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, the group is reaching young people where they are. That includes working with social media influencers, like @mitsy270, who has close to 2 million TikTok followers and has posted a few videos as part of the campaign.
On her above TikTok, a comment reads, “it’s rough quitting nicotine but you get through it.” Another reads, “I thought this was real for a sec lmao.”
How do you do, fellow kids?
Koval told us that “for young people—for lots of people—mental health is a crisis issue,” highlighting a study Truth Initiative did that found that 81% of young people started vaping to decrease stress and anxiety.
A recent New York Times article highlights anecdotes of some who have turned to cigarettes in response to the pandemic and nihilism about the future. The “Stress Air” spot highlights some of the factors that could be contributing to young people’s less-than-hopeful mentality, like crippling finances and climate change.
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It might seem difficult to reach younger people who vape for relief and may not be thinking about long-term effects, especially when the future feels uncertain or bleak. That’s why Laura Struik, assistant professor and expert on tobacco control at the University of British Columbia’s nursing school, told us that it’s important to speak with users about what’s driving uptake and create an open dialogue about misconceptions.
When trying to reach vape users, she said, “what doesn’t work is a top-down, very authoritative approach—an approach that excludes [young people’s] voices because even some youth have said, ‘Oh, it’s impossible for an adult to know what it’s like to be a teen who vapes.’”
Paull said Truth worked with a Gen Z panel to develop the “Stress Air” concept to ensure it would hit the right notes. “One of the things we’ve really always known about the Truth campaign is when you expose the lies of the tobacco industry, which is also the vaping industry now, and you really are honest and not preachy, and give young people facts and ways to share those facts on their own, that’s how they make their own right decision,” Paull said.
What Struik said really worked with the Truth Campaign on cigarettes was the “two-pronged” approach of the information campaign along with legislation. “We really need to make sure that we pay attention not just to prevention messaging and…to all of the underpinning factors that are driving vaping uptake, but we also need to pay attention to policies that will help positively reinforce these prevention messages.”
The latest government spending bill, which is set to be signed into law in the coming week or so, includes language that would give the FDA authority to regulate the synthetic nicotine used in some e-cigarettes, as right now the department only has control over nicotine found naturally in tobacco products. At the state level, there have also been bans on certain vape flavors and several have raised the minimum consumption age to 21.
For now, Koval said the organization is offering free six-month memberships to the Breathwrk app to “help manage stress and anxiety.” She also said more than 425,000 young people have signed up for their “This is Quitting” program, which offers anonymous, text-based support to those trying to quit.
New research shows that young people are finding it difficult to give up smoking and vaping. And Koval acknowledges that Truth is up against the vaping industry that has “way more money, way more power, and reach than we do.” Still, she thinks Truth can do for vaping what it says it helped do for smoking over the last 20+ years.
“I think we’re a lot smarter than we were then, we know a lot more. And they think based on some of the data that we’re seeing, I think we should be able to do it,” she said. “I hope we are able to do it.”