Charity welcomes advertising regulator’s ban on vaping firm’s claims

The advertising regulator has rebuked a vaping firm after it claimed switching to e-cigarettes could help people give up smoking.

The Advertising Standards Association has told Edinburgh-based company VPZ an advert on its website which urged people to ‘Make the switch today with VPZ Vape Clinic’ must not appear in its current form again.

The regulator, who ruled the webpage was against its advertising code, said marketing must not contain medical claims unless the product is authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare product Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The censure came after anti-smoking charity Ash Scotland made a complaint, and its chief executive Sheila Duffy welcomed the ruling which she said “draws a clear line for profit-making vaping businesses like VPZ inappropriately using medical language about e-cigarettes in advertising sales pitches”.

“Staff working for vaping companies are not qualified to provide medical advice, and these companies are not health stakeholders,” she said.

“Not one single e-cigarette product has been licensed by the MHRA to be used as a smoking cessation aid.

“As a health charity, we advise people in Scotland who want to leave tobacco behind to contact their local specialist Quit Your Way stop smoking services, which are available for free from the NHS.”

A VPZ spokesman said the company respected the regulator’s decision and remained “focused on our commitment to helping adult smokers who choose vaping as an alternative to smoking”.

“Our strategy is about one-to-one consultation, bringing expert knowledge and engaging with smokers to educate them on the option of switching to vaping as the country moves forward with its ambitions to create a smoke-free society in the next decade,” the spokesman said.

“This customer-led approach has driven the development and launch of Vape Clinic, an advisory service for smokers looking for advice on the options that are available to them when looking to switch from smoking to vaping.”

The regulator’s UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing is the rule book for adverts, and the webpage was found to have breached the part ruling electronic cigarettes.

The webpage told people, in a large font, that they would be able to “quit smoking or your money back”. It also said “you can start your journey to becoming smoke free” and “your cigarette free journey”.

In its ruling, it said: “Claims that e-cigarettes were capable of helping users to quit smoking cigarettes or reduce the amount that they smoked were considered medicinal claims for the purposes of the code.

“Whilst the ASA recognised that several public health bodies had made favourable statements about the potential health benefits of e-cigarettes, medicinal claims in marketing communications for e-cigarettes remain prohibited in the absence of a relevant MHRA licence.

“We understood that the e-cigarettes promoted by VPZ were not authorised by the MHRA for that purpose and therefore smoking cessation claims were prohibited from marketing communications.”

VPZ told the regulator its products were not authorised by the MHRA for smoking cessation, and it did not consider the advertisement contained any medical claims.

They said their intention was to inform adult smokers that vaping was an alternative to tobacco, and referenced a Public Health England 2021 report which stated “vapes were the most popular aid to help people quit smoking”.

The regulator said as well as the advert not appearing again in its current form, it should not “make smoking cessation claims about their e-cigarette products in the absence of a relevant MHRA licence”.