“If you disagree with this decision, contact your local MP here”: Posters calling for the Quebec government’s decision to ban e-cigarette flavors have been posted in Couche convenience stores over the past week to abolish, to challenge. Late from the province. A government investigation is underway to verify the legality of the advertising.
Placed near the cash registers, the multi-colored posters with a friendly design catch the eye. Various flavors of e-cigarette products are crossed out above to indicate that they will soon be removed from shelves as of October 31st.
At the bottom of the poster, a countdown shows the time remaining until the fateful date. E-cigarette enthusiasts are also invited to visit www.byesaveurs.ca or scan a QR code to access.
Photo Jean-Philippe Daoust
Once on the website, there is no doubt about the campaign’s intent: to encourage consumers to challenge the government’s decision to scrap e-cigarette flavors.
“If you do not agree with this decision, contact your local MP here”, we can read in particular.
An Imperial Tobacco initiative?
Couche-Tard was contacted by 24 Heures and stated that she was not behind the creation of these ads. Although the station could not confirm who the author is, a simple search shows that the domain name byesaveurs.ca is registered and managed by Imperial Tobacco Canada, an international tobacco manufacturer that also markets e-cigarette products.
The ad was viewed and commented on several hundred times on the Reddit discussion forum, and the fact that it is associated with tobacco giant Imperial Tobacco Canada sparked an outcry.
“The tobacco lobby spares no effort to thwart the WHO’s repressive measures and recommendations,” says one user.
“This is crazy… you’d think they would have at least used a shell company to do this… No, they just said ‘fuck you’ AND delivered these watches to the store. It’s really a mess!” denounces another.
Couche-Tard claims that the advertisement, which ran in all of its stores a week ago, was intended solely to inform its customers of the impending end of sales of e-cigarette products. The company also mentioned to 24 Heures that “this initiative was taken together with many other retailers.”
Advertising is being investigated
By email, the Department of Health and Human Services (MSSS) explains that “several restrictions apply to the advertising of e-cigarette products.” For example, advertising cannot contain anything other than text, cannot be directed at minors, and cannot be misleading , use a slogan, etc..”
The MSSS thereby confirms that an analysis is underway to determine whether the poster and website violate current anti-smoking laws and regulations.
At the federal level, the regulation on the advertising of e-cigarette products also prohibits the advertising of these products if it is done in such a way that the advertising will be seen or heard by minors.
However, after an analysis, Health Canada confirms that the Byesaveurs campaign posters do not violate the regulation because they do not specifically target tobacco or e-cigarette products.
Smoke down, vaping on the rise
Recall that last August the Quebec government reiterated its intention to abolish flavored vaping in order to make this practice less attractive to minors.
“Numerous studies show that flavors are the main reason young people start vaping.” In fact, flavors, particularly those that are sweet, and the way they are marketed both increase and decrease the appeal of the product Perception of health risks, including the risk of addiction,” the MSSS said via email.
Currently, more than 100,000 Quebecers aged 12 to 24 smoke without having smoked before, supports the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control.
According to 2021 figures from Statistics Canada, 13.4% of young Quebecers aged 12 to 24 smoke, compared to 3.7% of adults aged 25 and over. Between 2017 and 2021, the number of non-smokers who smoke increased by 61,500 in the province.
Two-thirds (66.1%) of young people aged 12 to 17 who have both smoked cigarettes and vaped said they had tried e-cigarettes first, Statistics Canada figures show. Nicotine-containing e-cigarette liquids were used by 89.3% of adolescents aged 15 to 19 years who reported smoking e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, which is comparable to older adults.
A University of Waterloo study published in 2020 also showed that before the popularization of e-cigarettes in the country, fewer and fewer young people under the age of 24 were smoking cigarettes. Between 1999 and 2020, the proportion of tobacco smokers fell from 27.7% to 3.3% among 15 to 19 year olds and from 35.4% to 8.4% among 20 to 24 year olds.
However, several advocates of flavored vaping products claim that the Quebec government’s ban will encourage vapers and young people to turn to the black market or cigarettes.