Jessica Park
Vapes have been in the market since 1963 and were originally a flavorless, nicotine-free invention intended to help smokers quit. Fast forward to 60 years later when vapes are a worldwide phenomenon, something that many people, not just smokers use for recreation, posing a clearer danger as time passes. Clearly, vapes have changed over time. But why? It all started in 2003 when a Chinese pharmacist, Hon Lik, a smoker himself, wanted to find a better alternative to smoking. Eventually, he came upon vapes, but they weren’t helping him in the way he hoped. He wanted something safer but still gave him a similar hit as smoking. Soon, he made his vapes as similar to cigarettes as possible, with a similar shape and similar nicotine content, so he could experience smoking without the negative drawbacks. As soon as vapes hit the US and European markets, their popularity exploded, any side effects of vapes remaining unclear.
Despite this, vapes weren’t too popular among children or young adolescents due to their boring exterior, something that wouldn’t usually catch the eyes of that age range. Additionally, vapes were easy to identify in school, and the more mature and dark designs from companies such as Juul set it clearly apart from the school supplies most would bring. Despite the increasing number of adolescents vaping, the problem wasn’t nearly as bad as it would become or as damaging to your body.
Around 2010, vapes became more reliable with the use of vape pens, which used the original inventor, Joseph Robinson’s design. All the while, the nicotine levels of these vapes were slowly spiking, and companies became more focused on earning money than on serving the original purpose vapes were for: to help smokers quit. Vapes were booming in popularity for older teenagers and adults, but not so much for children or young adolescents. As a result, vaping companies turned their eyes to these age groups.
Flavorings, such as tobacco, have been used since the 1700s, so it was no surprise that vapes began introducing flavors as well. Soon, vapes were produced in a variety of flavors, ranging from bubblegum to strawberry to more unique flavors such as dill pickle. Obviously, this fed further into the steeper incline of the product and also brought vapes to the attention of younger kids who started experimenting with flavors. Still, vapes were too risky for many students, who, despite wanting to try it, may have been afraid of the repercussions. Soon, companies changed their vapes to market them further to kids, particularly to their teenage audience.
Their first step to push through the obstacle of possible fear was around 2015. Vapes were branded as cool, especially with the rise of companies such as Juul, who pushed the image of celebrities or models wearing the latest fashion to correlate the idea of vapes with being mature and trendy. Popularity, if you’ve ever been a teen, is usually a huge part of school life and something many people in that age range desire. It would make sense that students, even if they didn’t in school, would start smoking out of school, which helped lead to an addiction.
Their second step was to rebrand vapes to make them prettier and easier to blend in. This not only brought the attention of more teenagers, but even younger kids were impacted. Their designs were candy-colored and resembled typical supplies, such as highlighters, airpods, and markers. The variety of colors also gave the vapes an aesthetic appeal, with the ability to be matched with outfits, thus drawing in more and more people. Due to this, influencers also flocked around vapes, showing vape combinations and new models they bought that further encouraged the public towards trying vapes. It also didn’t help that people viewed vapes as safe and easier to use, smoking them in bulk and believing they had no effect. The new, increasing levels of nicotine, some even equivalent to 590 cigarettes with the rise of companies like Elf, put people at an even greater risk of addiction. Vaping in schools has become more and more common, and as a result, more and more students find themselves with affected grades and angry parents. This was also around when the first case of EVALI occurred in 2017.
EVALI is a severe medical condition that results directly from vaping. EVALI occurs when the buildup of foreign substances from the vapor adds up in your lungs. Eventually, it would get to the point where you have difficulty breathing and require a respirator until you recover. From 2017-2020 these cases skyrocketed as addiction to vaping increased.
With the rise of vapes that continue to grow more and more addictive, so are health concerns over the vape, just not fast enough for enough people to be informed. In the end, almost an entire generation became hooked on vapes, and if we don’t do anything about it, so will the next.
