Yesterday was the last day of VApril, the vaping industry funded campaign designed to encourage smokers to switch to e-cigarettes.
In the UK there are currently two vaping industry bodies of any substance – the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) and the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA).
The IBVTA is the 'only trade association dedicated to representing the UK's independent vape industry'. Members (to name a few at random) include Totally Wicked, UK Vapour Brands, JAC Vapour, Vapestick and Vlad the Inhaler Ltd.
The UKVIA, which is behind VApril, is the 'country's leading forum for supporting and promoting the circa £1bn vaping industry'. Members include Vape Club, E-Liquid Brands, Madvapes, Vaporized and Vapo.
Significantly, membership of the UKVIA also includes Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Fontem Ventures (a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco) and JTI.
The result is that Steve Brine, minister for public health, is happy to meet representatives of the IBVTA but not the UKVIA.
Yes, I know about the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) but I'm sick of Article 5.3 being misrepresented by tobacco control to stop the tobacco industry meeting government ministers.
In my view health ministers should engage with both bodies (IBVTA and UKVIA) because it's clear to all but the most swivel-eyed fanatics that the tobacco industry has a major role to play in the development of alternative and potentially 'safer' nicotine products.
Anyway, with the calendar already featuring No Smoking Day and Stoptober plus countless smoking cessation events, I was concerned that VApril would be yet another 'bash smoking' exercise. The good news is, it wasn't.
With one exception – Vaporized's poorly judged 'WarOnCigarettes' hashtag – VApril was largely free of anti-smoking rhetoric.
Instead the four-week campaign focussed on the '3 step April Challenge' which encouraged those who want to stop smoking to attend 'masterclasses' in cities across the UK.
By adopting a helpful, non-judgemental tone VApril avoided the nagging anti-smoking narrative that drives most smoking cessation campaigns.
The positive tone was set by the recruitment of Dr Christian Jessen as the face of VApril. Great choice, not least because Jessen comes across as both likeable and genuinely liberal.
He's also not afraid to ruffle a few feathers among his colleagues in the medical profession.
It was a relief too not to be subjected to the parade of ex-smoking 'celebrities' that Stoptober wheels out every year to increasingly little effect.
So far so good.
If I have one issue it's this. Throughout the campaign I followed the VApril hashtag on Twitter.
What I found were numerous tweets by a number of companies (not members of the UKVIA) using the hashtag to flog their products. For example:
To celebrate #VApril we’re giving one lucky #vaper a personalised Vapor Space Medium Vapor Box to store their #vaping goodies in! To enter to #win just follow + RT. #Giveaway #FreebieFriday pic.twitter.com/ryY5hx7OVW
— V2 Cigs UK (@V2CigsUK) April 27, 2018
Or this:
Today is the last day of #VApril, meaning today is the last chance to stop in and take advantage of one (or four) of our amazing sales! pic.twitter.com/DeMRuRbIJY
— Alohma (@AlohmaVapor) April 30, 2018
Hijacked is too strong a word but I did feel that VApril's mission to educate and inform was compromised by some fairly naked commercial activity (none of it the fault of the UKVIA).
How that problem can be solved I don't know. If companies want to use the hashtag #VApril as part of a sales promotion you can't stop them, but it's an issue that needs to be addressed.
Thankfully it wasn't universal and tweets by companies that are members of the UKVIA were far more restrained, in keeping with the ethos of the campaign:
This year, April has become #VApril. Here’s why #smokers should give #vaping a go this month.
— Vype UK (@govype) April 30, 2018
Find out more about #switching at https://t.co/OR5pDOHkBs#MondayMotivation #Vaping #UKVIA #Publichealth pic.twitter.com/DnxJlIFPyC
Anyway, I can't write about VApril without mentioning the main event – the inaugural UKVIA Forum that took place at the Kings Fund in London last week.
Like the campaign itself I was pleasantly surprised. I arrived a little sceptical (the list of speakers suggested there was going to be a lot of preaching to the converted) but I left having enjoyed it.
For starters, it was very well-paced. Unlike many conferences I've been to no session overstayed its welcome.
The sessions were well moderated and every panellist had time to make their points. There was even time for Q&As which is essential, I think, if you want the audience to be properly engaged.
Many of the speakers were unfamiliar to me so that was good because I learned something new.
(Note to conference organisers: please, please don't invite the same speakers every year. I don't care how 'expert' they are. It's boring hearing the same people again and again and again.)
Other speakers reinforced what I already knew but that was fine too. Here are some of the messages I took away:
According to a new survey the top three drivers of switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes are:
(1) Smell of smoke – 62%
(2) Cost (of cigarettes) – 60%
(3) Cost of insurance – 50%
Contrary to what we often hear, flavour is not a driver.
Top three reasons why smokers don't start vaping:
(1) Expensive (initially)
(2) Too much choice
(3) Never crossed their minds
The top three reasons people stop vaping and switch back to smoking are:
(1) Not getting the pleasure
(2) Not as convenient as smoking
(3) Plethora of choice (confusing)
I can't remember who said it but one speaker talked of vaping needing an "iPhone moment" – an e-cigarette that "just works" and is simplicity itself.
Could that, perhaps, be Ayr, "vaping reimagined"?
Ayr, we were told, is the "first vaporiser that refills and recharges itself automatically".
"Intuitive and smart", it "shows exactly how much you've vaped during a single session" allowing a clear start and finish to every session.
Nine flavours and three different strengths, there's even a "discreet mode" that allows you to vape unobtrusively.
Like the original iPhone, it really does look beautiful, and different.
But wait.
Ayr can monitor your first and last puff and the information it collects on your vaping behaviour can be provided "to the medical community".
Seriously? To the medical community? What kind of device is this?
When I questioned this (no-one else seemed the least bit bothered) I was assured that all information will be "anonymised" but it strikes me that Ayr may be too clever by half.
It's still a wonderful looking device but I can't see it being a game-changer unless it's licensed to one of the major players.
One or two comments aside (one speaker dismissed smoking as "dumb-arse", another spoke of "our quest to eradicate smoking"), what I enjoyed about the UKVIA Forum is that I didn't feel I was being lectured about the evils of smoking.
If you smoke and don't want to quit you would not have felt out-of-place or uncomfortable, unlike the E-Cigarette Summit that is currently taking place in Washington DC. For example, how's this for the arrogance of (some) vaping advocates:
Great to hear from @AGIowa -- a fearless leader in tobacco control.
— Gregory Conley (@GregTHR) April 30, 2018
"Every adult smoker in the country should know that if he or she is unwilling or unable to quit combustible cigarettes, they should switch to e-cigarettes." #ecigsummit pic.twitter.com/UVZsqXMR7B
Message: even if you enjoy smoking and are "unwilling" to quit, you should still switch to e-cigarettes!
They don't get it, do they? Even when research tells them, time and again, that the reason many smokers won't switch to e-cigarettes is because vaping doesn't give them the same pleasure as smoking, some THR advocates continue to shout, "Switch to vaping!"
Are they deaf or simply driven by an evangelical desire that everyone should follow their own righteous path to a smoke free future?
Finally, I've mentioned Twitter several times in this post and with good reason because it seems the success of VApril may be judged largely by its performance on social media.
As of last Monday, we were told, the campaign had achieved 2.1 million Twitter impressions, plus 323k post (?) impressions across social media.
The UKVIA had also acquired 375 new followers and the campaign had engaged with 321 politicians and public health community professionals.
I sense a bit of PR spin there but credit where credit's due. VApril was a well thought out campaign and the first UKVIA Forum was well-organised and well-attended (170 delegates).
I'm disappointed Dr Neil McKeganey wasn't invited to discuss his peer-reviewed paper 'Why Don’t More Smokers Switch to Using E-Cigarettes: The Views of Confirmed Smokers' but maybe that was too much to ask. Next year, perhaps.
Update: The UKVIA has revealed that "nearly 1000 smokers across the UK took the #VAprilChallenge". I'd like to know what the target was but, either way, I'm sure VApril – and the UKVIA Forum – will be back next year.
We'd like to say a big thank you to @DoctorChristian for all his support this #VApril! With his help, we've encouraged nearly 1000 smokers across the UK to take the #VAprilChallenge via https://t.co/sB8a7mF0i3 as part of their journey to quit smoking.
— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) April 30, 2018
Listen to his advice here: pic.twitter.com/zYHQV1VODS