What teen vaping messages can teach us about behaviour change.

Canada has some of the highest use of e-cigarettes by teens anywhere in the world. Over 40 per cent of grade 10 to 12 students have tried vaping. Close to 12 per cent of them vape daily. Regulators and educators say access to flavoured vape juice is at least partly to blame, and they’re calling for a flavour ban.

But sellers say a ban will put their businesses at risk. And critics say a ban won’t work anyway. Prohibition could make e-cigarettes even more attractive to teens who want to rebel. And they could also make teens turn to something worse: traditional cigarettes. This isn’t speculation. One study ?found an increase in cigarette sales in jurisdictions with flavour bans.

As an alternative to flavour bans, some advocates want greater public education about the harms of e-cigarettes. But these campaigns have mixed results, partly because of the way the messages are framed. The example below takes a negative tone that can lead to resistance.

What’s the solution?

One of the tenets of behaviour change marketing is to understand what the audience already wants and give it to them. One lesser-known data point around teen vaping is the number of users who want to quit. One large US study found nearly 70% of teens who vaped had tried to quit, but didn’t have the tools or resources to succeed.?Rather than telling teens to stop vaping, why not help them do it?

Here’s how it could work.

First, make quitting seem possible, even easy. A message like the one above is a good start.?It’s positive and non-judgmental compared to the Juul Fool example. It reflects a personal truth that will resonate: you know you want to quit. It offers tangible support vital for long-term success. And it emphasizes support is free, so there is no financial barrier.

Making quitting seem easy is one thing, but there's still the problem of social pressure which could make teens resist change. A quitting campaign could be even more powerful if support were peer-to-peer. Why? Because peer-to-peer support would cue quitting as popular – a powerful motivator for socially conscious teens. And no messenger is more persuasive than someone like ourselves.

Sharing stories of new friendships, opportunities, and financial freedom found through quitting would help reinforce behaviour change. So would stories about improved mental health, a lesser-known benefit of quitting. Letting teens choose their own rewards and consequences through a simple app could be another way to promote change while preserving autonomy, another important aspect of change.

Effective program design is less about education and more about understanding human nature. How are you promoting behaviour change? ?