to forge a vaping culture that entices non-smokers. it has been suggested that these devices may be a less harmful alternative to smoking, provide health benefits to smokers who switch completely to them, lessen cigarette cravings, and facilitate smoking cessation. however, promotion of e-cigarettes may also encourage non-smokers, particularly young people, to initiate use, facilitate experimentation with traditional tobacco products, and undermine tobacco control efforts. independent e-cigarette businesses have directed marketing efforts at non-smokers by promoting them as lifestyle accessories, among other things. e-cigarettes are marketed at young non-smokers as being socially appealing and part of a fast expanding trend. the aim for independent e-cigarette businesses with selling to non-smokers (as well as smokers) is to maximize profit using a 'next generation' product. many non-users (as well as users) perceptions regarding vaping were consistent with an array of unsupported assertions that were regularly stated in the advertisements of such products such as vaping is a healthy substitute compared with smoking, is an area of concern. a 2014 review stated that it would be appropriate to implement restrictions on the marketing of these products to non-smokers. concerns have been raised that the marketing directed at young adults and non-smokers could undermine the who framework convention on tobacco control. an e-cigarette advertisement for the firm vip appeared on television in 2014, which depicted a woman using an e-cigarette. professor martin mckee, of the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine, commented that the advertisement was "highly sexualised and gives the impression at being aimed at non-smokers." a spokesperson for vip told bbc that "this advert will mark the first time in almost 50 years that tv audiences see someone exhale what appears to be cigarette smoke on an advert. however, it is actually vapour from an e-cigarette that they will see." in 2015, the lancet stated, "the advertising company who created one of these adverts actually described it in a tweet as the first 'smoking' advert in 50 years, before realising their mistake and deleting the tweet." cost e-cigarettes are marketed to adult smokers as a less costly and safer substitute to smoking. independent e-cigarette businesses have directed marketing efforts at smokers, stating it is less expensive than tobacco. e-cigarette businesses are using reduced cost promotions to entice new buyers. for example, starter kits are offered at a lower price for new buyers. cost has been used as a marketing tactic on social media. price promotions are not just involved in sales at brick-and-mortar stores; they are also offered by online stores and through social media. a 2014 report found that 80% of websites indicated a sale price or discount, while another 2014 report found that 34% of commercial tweets mentioned the words "price" or "discount." both facebook and twitter provide opportunities for brands and companies to offer online coupons and discounts. in a study of online e-cigarette retailers, 28% of the websites offered a promotion, such as a discount, other free items, or a loyalty program. without age restrictions or age verification, youth can access these websites easily and thus obtain the discount or coupon. however, under the us fda deeming rule of 2016, websites cannot sell e-cigarettes to youth under the age of 18, so access will likely be curtailed as a result. a substantial portion of e-cigarette marketing on social media includes price promotions, discounts, coupons, free trials, giveaways, and competitions. these types of incentives can persuade potential consumers to make a purchase and assist vendors to create a loyal customer base, which has already been demonstrated for tobacco. it is well documented that smoking behaviors react to changes in cigarette prices, and in response, tobacco control efforts have sought to eradicate the use of these incentives. similarly, studies have reported that e-cigarette sales are very responsive to price variation, and implementing policy to limit price promotions, free-trials, and giveaways could lead to significant behavior change and uptake. people who use e-cigarettes regularly cite smoking cessation as their motivation for vaping initiation; for this group of people, price promotions that enable affordability of these products longer term could be viewed as appropriate, although evidence supporting the use of these devices as a smoking cessation aid is still out for debate, as of 2019. celebrity product endorsements music icon bruno mars endorsed the njoy e-cigarettes in 2013. celebrity endorsements are used to encourage e-cigarette use. celebrities have endorsed e-cigarettes at least as far back as 2009. e-cigarette businesses have partnered with a number of music icons to promote their products. celebrities endorsing vaping products appear on social media. musician bruno mars invested in njoy and endorsed the product in 2013. on may 12, 2013, he posted on twitter a photograph of himself using the njoy product. musician courtney love appeared in a njoy e-cigarette television advertisement in 2013. actress jenny mccarthy endorsed blu e-cigarettes in 2014. e-cigarette marketing methods are like those of tobacco in that they have penetrated the hollywood scene, with e-cigarette products showing up in movies, talk shows, and even in the goodie bags provided to the nominees of the 84th academy awards. they were seen on the doctors and the late show with david letterman. hollywood celebrities in the us have discussed on television talk shows that they vape to assist them with giving of smoking. katherine heigl took a drag off of her e-cigarette during her appearance on the late show with david letterman. her use of the product on the late show with david letterman on september 27, 2010, was highlighted on the firm's website that sells the product. east enders and lewis in the uk, for instance, have had characters vaping on these television shows. shows including the alan titchmarsh show have promoted vaping through appearances. they are also marketed to celebrities. e-cigarettes were handed out for free to guests at the 52nd annual grammy awards. in the us, they have been promoted in some movies. johnny depp's character was seen vaping in the 2010 movie the tourist. milla jovovich's character was seen vaping the device smokestik in the 2014 movie cymbeline. smokestik paid to have their product in the movie. in 2015, e-cigarettes appeared on hbo in the drama true detective. o'shea jackson jr.'s character was seen vaping in the 2017 movie ingrid goes west. njoy partnered with robert pattinson for an e-cigarette advertisement, who appeared in the twilight movies. singers sevyn streeter and chris brown participated in a music video that drew attention to an e-cigarette brand, as part of a product placement agreement. e-lites appeared in a music video by lily allen. lily allen was paid by e-lites to put them in the hard out here video in 2013. hollywood celebrities who have had their picture taken with a vape include leonardo dicaprio, dennis quaid, and kevin connolly. e-cigarette business websites have highlighted photographs of a-list celebrities who have used the products that they have offered. e-cigarette companies have associated their name or image of their product to celebrities such as the group girls aloud "puffing on e-cigarettes to cope with the stress of their 10th anniversary tour." external video blu e-cigarette commercial featuring celebrity spokesperson stephen dorff. a 2012 national us television advertising campaign for e-cigarettes starred stephen dorff exhaling a "thick flume" of what the advertisement describes as "vapor, not tobacco smoke", exhorting smokers with the message "we are all adults here, it's time to take our freedom back." opponents of the tobacco industry state that the blu advertisement, in a context of longstanding prohibition of tobacco advertising on television, seems to have resorted to advertising tactics that got former generations of people in the us addicted to traditional cigarettes. cynthia hallett of americans for non-smokers' rights described the us advertising campaign as attempting to "re-establish a norm that smoking is okay, that smoking is glamorous and acceptable". university of pennsylvania communications professor joseph cappella stated that the setting of the advertisement near an ocean was meant to suggest an association of clean air with the nicotine product. sponsorship of events an e-cigarette sponsorship of an event sponsoring sporting events such as football, motor racing, golf, powerboat, and superbike racing are used as promotional tools for e-cigarettes. a 2014 us congressional report indicated that e-cigarette manufacturers had sponsored or handed out e-cigarette products at a considerable number of youth-oriented events, such as baseball games and at a six flags amusement park. most of the events discussed in the 2014 us congressional report appear to be at bars, big concerts, and music festivals. njoy sponsored the fall 2013 fashion week, the 2013 london fashion week, and the 2013 new york fashion week. e-cigarette businesses have partnered with a number of sports events to promote their products. in may 2011, it was announced that green smoke sponsored a nascar driver. e-cigarette businesses have sponsored events such as the coachella valley music and arts festival. r. j. reynolds was the sponsor of the "kool jazz festival" but has moved on to sponsor other various public events. in 2013, a football field in wales was renamed 'the cigg-e stadium' following the club's agreement to a three-year partnership with the e-cigarette brand. nicolites sponsored the birmingham city football club for the 2013–14 season. e-lites obtained partnership agreements and specified spaces for e-cigarette use in the celtic and rangers football stadiums in 2013. e-lites sponsored the british superbike championship in 2013 and 2014. after the master settlement agreement in 1998, sponsorship of events with a significant youth audience, such as concerts and athletic events, was banned for traditional cigarettes. however, e-cigarettes do not fall under these parameters, and recalling the early marketing of traditional cigarettes, e-cigarette brands have used sponsorships to increase the awareness and appeal of their label and product. for example, in 2011 blu sponsored a nascar driver and had its own car in some races. additionally, blu has handed out free samples during large events and has even sponsored events at music festivals. blu sponsored the bonnaroo music festival in 2013. further, conservative estimates indicate that in 2012 and 2013, free samples were provided by six e-cigarette businesses at 348 events, most of these events having high participation by youth. under the us fda deeming rule published in may 2016 (under litigation in 2016), free samples were banned. sponsorship of research biased research paid for by the tobacco industry continues to be rampant in the e-cigarette topic area, as of 2019. the tobacco companies have had an impact on research-based conclusions by providing funding for scientists. the extent to which research related to e-cigarettes has ties to businesses and other special interests in this industry, is an area of increasing concern. in 2010, arbi group srl from italy, who is a vaping distributor in europe, sponsored a large amount of research by a group at the university of catania in sicily, who organized and carried out a randomized trial, which was cited in a 2015 cochrane review. the university of catania researchers have been coordinating 9 of the 48 e-cigarette trials, that were registered with the national institutes of health, as of 2015. professor riccardo polosa of the university of catania, who constructed the trial, stated that, "at the end of the day we were stuck accepting money from e-cigarette owners because there was no other way to carry out research." that is a problem, according to danish doctor charlotta pisinger, who works at quit-smoking clinics. in a 2015 review she stated that a third of vaping studies had a conflict of interest because they were paid for by vaping businesses, pharmaceutical businesses and/or tobacco businesses. she noted that "we must exercise the utmost caution in trusting their conclusions." 95.1% of research without and 39.4% of research with a conflict of interest came to the conclusion that vaping is potentially harmful, while just 7.7% of research associated with the tobacco industry concluded that they are potentially harmful, as of 2019. in 2013, logic sponsored a vaping study. in 2014, r.j. reynolds vapor co., a division of reynolds american, sponsored a study on vaping. businesses, which include imperial brands, have sponsored a total of seven of the e-cigarette trials that were entered into the national institutes of health archive, as of 2015. altria made a minority investment in juul labs in 2018. following the investment, juul started jli science in