Ban on e cig TV ads as Stoptober launches on 1 October

This weekend is the final frontier for smokers before this year’s Stoptober campaign begins on 1 October.

But TV ads for three brands of e-cigarette have recently been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA banned the first three TV adverts for electronic cigarettes after complaints were received from the public, some of which involved fears that the adverts “normalised” smoking.

The concerns also involved fears that the adverts might make e-cigarettes appealing to children and because the product being advertised was not clearly identified in one advert.

The ban coincides with the start of Stoptober 2013 on 1 October, the NHS-driven initiative which encourages smokers to give up cigarettes for 28 days. It is estimated that those who do so will have a five times greater chance of quitting tobacco than smokers who relapse during that time.

There has been a backlash against e-cigarettes, including from some tobacco manufacturers which have complained that, whereas cigarettes and cigarette packaging are regulated with packaging carrying stringent health warnings, electronic cigarettes are freely available.

Why smokers find it hard to quit

Giving up smoking can be a huge mountain to climb for some smokers, especially those who began smoking young and have become chronic tobacco users.

Stoptober 2013 has a new weapon, however, as earlier this year the NHS approved electronic cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid.

According to anti-smoking charity ASH, it is estimated that there are nearly one million e-cigarette users in the UK, with more smokers making the switch from tobacco to e-cigarettes every day.

For many smokers, the annual Stoptober campaign is the perfect opportunity to quit smoking and become a smoke-free zone by Christmas.

Smokers trying to quit often feel lost without a cigarette in their hand and the act of smoking can become an essential ritual, from lighting up to handling a cigarette and even stubbing it out.

But smoking has become increasingly difficult since the smoking ban, with smokers being forced to stand outside offices and clubs to enjoy their habit.

Smoking is not just a habit, however, but for some people a way of de-stressing or coping with anxiety or even loneliness. The fact that nicotine is addictive makes the smoking experience even more difficult to kick. The harmful tobacco smoke and tar produced by cigarettes are also killers, so chronic smokers are literally dying for a smoke.

Magnifecig electronic cigarettes can offer smokers an alternative to harmful tobacco and also enable smokers to enjoy the whole experience of smoking, from handling a cigarette to inhaling nicotine, which nicotine patches and gum simply cannot do.

Benefits of using e-cigarettes to quit smoking

Electronic cigarettes provide a measured dose of nicotine delivered in a vapour and enable smokers to switch from tobacco while at the same time continuing to enjoy nicotine, but without the harmful smoke and tar cigarettes produce.

Electronic cigarettes also taste like cigarettes and Magnifecig e-cigarettes are available in nicotine flavour or a whole range fruit flavours, or mint or chocolate. The refills are available in different strengths of nicotine so a Stoptober campaign to quit smoking can begin with a higher strength of nicotine cartomizer (the refill for e-cigs) and gradually smokers can reduce the level, or mix or alternate two cartomizers to achieve the nicotine level which works best to satisfy individual cravings.

An expert from the Royal College of Physicians offers smokers the best reason for quitting tobacco.

Professor John Britton is the college’s lead adviser on tobacco and says that although nicotine is not a drug which is particularly “hazardous” and its addictive qualities are similar to caffeine, the number of lives which could be saved from smokers in the UK switching to e-cigarettes could top 5 million.

It is the smoke and tar which sticks to the lining of lungs and other organs which increases risk of lung and other cancers: with e-cigarettes there is no harmful smoke and no tar, just nicotine.

E-cigarette Safety Concerns

Because electronic cigarettes are largely unregulated and have shaken up the marketplace, all sorts of concerns have been expressed about their safety, appeal as a gateway product to smoking tobacco and even their effectiveness as a smoking cessation aid. “Exploding” e-cigarettes have also made the headlines.

However, in the US smoking cigarettes causes one in four deaths in house fires, and the UK government acknowledges that “careless disposal” of cigarettes is the single biggest cause of death in house fires.

The government’s former Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser Sir Ken Knight warns smokers that house fires caused by tobacco and cigarettes can soon kill if a cigarette is not extinguished properly:

“As well as the health dangers, people need to be aware of the deadly risks of smoking in the home and how smoking materials can very quickly and easily lead to a fire. When extinguishing cigarettes, smokers must make sure they ‘put it out, right out’ and if possible refrain from smoking in the home at all.”

Electronic cigarettes are battery-operated and heat up to turn nicotine liquid into vapour for inhalation, but to date there has been no known death associated with using e-cigarettes, whereas there are an estimated 6 million tobacco-related deaths every year.

Smokers who want to give up tobacco and cigarettes for Stoptober 2013 should not be put off by news headlines and the tobacco lobby campaigning for more regulation of e-cigarettes.

The vapour used to deliver the nicotine in electronic cigarettes has been the subject of media discussion as to its safety; and yet the two liquids used in e-cigarette refills (vegetable glycerine or propylene glycol) are commonly used in the cosmetic and medicines sectors.

Get kitted out with Magnifecig this Stoptober

There is still time to order a starter kit from Magnifecig and make Stoptober 2013 the year you finally make the switch to electronic cigarettes and kick your smoking habit.

Use e-cigarettes from Magnifecig for 28 days from 1 October and you will also save money: a 20-a-day smoking habit can cost as much as £3,500 annually.

A Magnifecig starter kit starts from £9.95 and contains three refills offering the equivalent of 40 smokes per refill, depending on individual usage. Further refills cost £5.95.

By 29 October, you could not only be healthier but also wealthier and well on the way to quitting smoking for good.