were as follows: no health warnings, the presence of flavors, and low or no nicotine content. similar findings have been reported for waterpipe products. smokers and recent quitters appear receptive to e-cigarettes when exposed to advertisements of the products. recently as of 2018, a whole new possibility for marketing has become available through social media. retailers can easily advertise and promote their products to a large audience through websites such as twitter and instagram. these marketing aspects of the products themselves and in advertisements can lead to fast increases in the popularity of products and should therefore be considered when evaluating the market developments of new products. between juul's 2015 launch and fall 2018, their marketing campaign "was patently youth-oriented," a 2018 stanford research into the impact of tobacco advertising report concluded. juul's launch was accompanied with sampling events in large us cities. young people handed out juul devices without cost at movie and music events. "the principal focus of these activities was to get a group of youthful influencers to accept gifts of juul products" and "to try out their various flavors, and then to popularize their products among their peers," a 2018 stanford research into the impact of tobacco advertising report states. in 2015, juul started a campaign titled "vaporized". as part of their multimillion-dollar advertisement campaign for the juul device, the company had a vividly colored billboard displayed in times square and a featured spread in the july issue of vice magazine. the advertisements on billboards, in magazines, and on social media depicted models that appeared to be in their 20s. juul advertisements looked like cigarette advertisements, according to a different study from the stanford research into the impact of tobacco advertising. juul paid people who have a substantial audience on instagram to publicize their products. the people juul paid frequently posted images of young people using the juul device, or were performing tricks or were being humorous with their own device. juul has used launch parties to provide free product samples. greater than 1,500 samples were handed out at every launch party. visitors at the launch parties in new york city and other places were encouraged to post selfies on social media. after a 2010 law was revised to include e-cigarettes, juul started asking people to pay a $1.00 for the device. juul does "very little marketing," a representative from the company, stated in 2018. concerns have been expressed in relation to the youngness of the men and women depicted in the juul advertisements along with the design of the device, which critics maintain gives a false impression with regard to the possibility of addiction. there has been substantial discussion relating to juul on instagram, youtube, twitter, and reddit and other social media platforms. a 2018 report stated, "because the audiences of these platforms disproportionately represent youth and young adults, juul's marketing and promotion on social media may increase the appeal, experimentation, initiation and use of juul among that population." juul publicized its sugary flavors as one of the foremost reasons to using the device. a 2016 juul advertisement states to "save room for juul" and states the flavorings are "easy to pair with your favorite foods." in august 2017, a twitter advertisement for juul's "creme brulee" pods suggested to people to retweet if they savored the "dessert without the spoon." in may 2018, juul's twitter account had no age restrictions and "these kind of social media posts can increase exposure to pro-e-cigarette imagery and messaging, by making juul use look cool and rebellious." juul stated in june 2018 that it has a new approach for social media. moving forward, juul will not depict models in photographs posted on facebook, instagram, or twitter. juul will utilize former smokers who now use juul. in a pre-written statement, kevin burns, the ceo of juul, wrote: "while juul already has a strict marketing code, we want to take it one step further by implementing an industry-leading policy eliminating all social media posts featuring models and instead focus our social media on sharing stories about adult smokers who have successfully switched to juul. we also are having success in proactively working with social media platforms to remove posts, pages and unauthorized offers to sell product targeted at underage accounts. we believe we can both serve the 38 million smokers in the u.s. and work together to combat underage use – these are not mutually exclusive missions." the shift in social media priorities comes at a time when they are trying to deal with the rising young users' use of its products. e-cigarette businesses have offered consumers a free 14-day trial for e-cigarette products. the "free trials" for e-cigarette products are offered online. cost reductions are offered via social media on the internet. for instance, a facebook page had the message: "v-shisha sunshine promo!! save 20% ... off our 5-pack of 0% nicotine, fruity and sparkly disposables." on social media, products are advertised and sometimes offered for free such as batteries for e-cigarettes. alternatively, free shipping or discounts up to 10% are offered for various products. this offering of products with reduced pricing involves dozens of messages monthly. manufacturer or importer websites sometimes offer the possibility to become an ambassador of their product line. such an ambassador is expected to set up a community to share experiences and being active as a blogger or on social media. some marketing activities were specifically aimed at youth by focusing on youth culture. for instance, pop-up bars set at various events and locations are part of the campaign of the e-cigarette "juul." the "bar" in this case is a vapor lounge with brightly colored billboard display. in addition, images or cartoons of a young woman were shown in advertisements. other advertisements were aimed at smokers who would switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, describing the technology of some products as "developed by smokers," "same feeling as a real cigarette," or "smoking the healthy way." e-cigarette businesses have a robust existence in social media, which bolters their marketing efforts. e-cigarette marketing and advertising online, including countries where such products are not permitted to be used, may promote their use. independent e-cigarette businesses use social media for promotion of their e-cigarette products. e-cigarettes have been marketed on facebook even though its policy does not allow for promotion of such products, and in a lot of these cases, age restrictions have not been implemented. in 2018, in the journal tobacco control, stanford researchers stated that less than 50% of the pages they visited, related to nicotine products, restricted the access to individuals who were below 18 years of age. fruit flavored e-liquid is the most commonly marketed e-liquid flavor on social media. flavor plays a significant role for the marketing of e-cigarettes online, which encourages users to communicate with one another, in addition to, providing a positive experience to the user. in 2018, the journal tobacco control found that juul advertised mainly on social media rather than in other venues such as on billboards or in magazines. vape retail websites and social online accounts have made an array of direct and indirect marketing assertions, the majority being related to assertions about health benefits, reducing harm compared with tobacco, and providing aid to giving up smoking. a 2014 report evaluated 59 vape retail websites in 2012 stated that the most prominent assertions were that the products are safer, less costly, and cleaner compared with traditional cigarettes; may be used anywhere; may be used in places where smoking is not allowed; will not create passive smoke; and are stylish. assertions associated with health using text and imagery and video with depictions of doctors have been seen. assertions associated with quitting smoking were also observed. e-cigarettes are vigorously advertised, mostly via the internet, as a quitting smoking or minimization tool, and a less costly and more eco-friendly, socially agreeable, and safe substitute to traditional cigarettes. a 2014 review stated, these claims have been evaluated in studies. the conclusions of those studies were conflicting and mixed. product appeal and marketing terms used for online e-cigarette advertisement. product name marketing terms product appearance e-njoint natural, harmless, safe, cartoon young woman bright colors juul stylish, intensely satisfying, intelligent design, elegant, innovative, young people bright colors, design exclucig exclusive, luxurious, fashionable, high quality, young woman —a treasurer vape elegant, discrete, pure, high quality, high-end product white, light grey, flowers, design vaporcade jupiter technology, discrete, quality, young woman black, design innokin lily elegant, luxurious, exclusive, beautiful vaping, young woman, highest quality, design swarovski crystals, flower, colors zensations unique, like real cigarette, variation of tastes design cig-a-linq a dutch brand, next generation, developed by smokers stylish ainformation not available. impact of marketing on use the television advertisement for mirage e-cigarettes in 2015 depicted a man and woman vaping surrounded by plumes of aerosol (vapor). the advertisement included text that stated, "choice", "flavour", and "freedom". the expansion in the marketing of e-cigarettes is believed to be contributing to the escalation in product awareness. numerous small e-cigarette businesses are promoting e-cigarette in every possible way. e-cigarette vendors have marketed their products as a cheaper and safer smokeless alternative to traditional cigarettes and a possible smoking cessation tool. consequently, many cigarette smokers have turned to e-cigarettes, and the number of e-cigarette smokers is increasing. in recent years leading up to 2014, on the international market, e-cigarettes have been widely advertised via television, radio, magazines, newspapers, and the internet. this mass marketing and commercialization of e-cigarettes is estimated to increase consumer awareness and the future use of e-cigarettes. "brand awareness is raised through promotion in the press, trade press, magazines, television, company websites, sponsorships, online promotions and social media," according to a 2013 cancer research uk report. in 2014, the international union against tuberculosis and lung disease expressed concerned that the marketing, awareness, and use of such products is increasing exponentially. while advertising of tobacco products is banned in most countries, television and radio e-cigarette advertising in several countries may be indirectly encouraging traditional cigarette use. marketing and advertisement play a significant role in the public's perception of e-cigarettes. exposure to e-cigarette advertising influences people to try them. seeing e-cigarette advertisements online is linked with greater positive views of e-cigarettes, a more likelihood of use, while seeing them at retail locations is linked with greater positive views and a more likelihood of use. cigarette smokers were found to be more likely to be susceptible to the e-cigarettes advertisements than non-smokers. the results of a web-based 2015 survey indicated that exposure to e-cigarettes advertisements might enhance interest in trying e-cigarettes, particularly among cigarette smokers. in a 2015 study of 519 adult smokers and former smokers who seen a television advertisement for blu e-cigarettes on the internet, 76% of smokers stated that it resulted in them to ponder about using traditional cigarettes, 74% stated it resulted in them to ponder about giving up using traditional cigarettes, and 66% stated it resulted in them to consider going on to use an e-cigarette. the 34% of the people who took part in the study who had vaped were much more likely to ponder about using traditional cigarettes after seeing the advertisement compared with non-users. this study indicated that seeing an e-cigarette advertisement could incite thoughts relating to smoking and prompt the desire to smoke. e-cigarette television advertisements could be attracting previous tobacco users to use a traditional cigarette. as a result of the large-scale marketing, e-cigarettes gained widespread pervasiveness among all age groups, including vulnerable adolescents and youths populations. the proliferation of e-cigarettes as well as the juul pod device and other pod devices seems to be associated with millions of youth who had seen their advertisements and social media promotions. in various high income countries, a rise in marketing has led to a rise in the use of vaping products. the increased prevalence of vaping among males can be due to sociocultural characteristics or marketing messages and current trends. there are growing concerns that e-cigarette advertising campaigns unjustifiably focus on young adults, adolescents, and women. a 2017 study found that being exposed to e-cigarette advertisements resulted in the belief that vaping is safer in contrast to cigarette smoking in women typically, and pregnant women. a 2016 experimental study of youth found that "participants exposed to flavored e-cigarette advertisements rated them as more