As last Friday's post made clear, I wish VApril, the new pro-vaping campaign, well.
Fronted by Dr Christian Jessen – who seems refreshingly open and willing to engage with the tobacco companies ("what a good thing that the tobacco industry is supporting harm reduction") – the VApril campaign does seem to be primarily about choice and education.
From today, for example, smokers who want to quit are being encouraged to take the 3-step VApril Challenge:
1. Drop into a Vaping Masterclass (in cities across the UK)
2. Receive your free 6-page VApril guide
3. Be social (post thoughts, pics, videos on social media)
Who could possibly object to that? It's entirely voluntary, it offers practical help and advice to smokers who want to quit, and unlike Stoptober (the publicly-funded Public Health England campaign), the promotion of VApril has been largely free of the usual anti-smoking rhetoric.
This morning however one campaign partner adopted a more belligerent tone. Vapourized, the 'UK's largest e-cigarette and vaping retailer with over 100 stores nationwide', tweeted:
We are declaring the war on cigarettes.
— Vaporized (@vaporizeduk) April 2, 2018
We want to help you make the switch from smoking to vaping. Will you be joining us and thousands of other recruits on the path to being tobacco-free?#WarOnCigarettes #vapril #vaprilchallenge pic.twitter.com/qZCH8vlNYz
Declaring war? I thought the vaping industry had moved on from that type of tub-thumping nonsense.
Let's be clear, if you're fighting a 'war on smoking' you're also declaring 'war' on the millions of adults who enjoy smoking and don't want to quit.
As for being 'tobacco-free', does that include every tobacco product including reduced risk heated tobacco devices?
I wonder what the manufacturers of iQOS and Glo (who are also supporting VApril) think about that?
Anyway, the actions of one rogue partner won't stop me supporting VApril. But targeting thousands of potential customers with that sort of bellicose language is no way to win friends and influence people.
See also: Dr Christian Jessen is no VApril fool.