Researchers from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania said that advertisements can have huge impact on the lives of people. Ads can increase the urge to engage in smoking.

The researchers affirmed that after seeing vaping ads, former smokers felt an increased desire to smoke after seeing the ad for the same. In the study, the researchers evaluated the urge to smoke of 301 daily smokers, 272 intermittent smokers and 311 former smokers.

The smokers were asked to watch electronic cigarette commercials that showed someone vaping and some do not. After seeing the ads, the participants were evaluated once again for the urge of smoking. The researchers found that after seeing the vaping ads, daily smokers had a greater urge to smoke a normal cigarette.

In fact, there was an increased likelihood to do so during the experiment. In the case of those who do not smoke, the determination to remain away from smoking decline and no effect was noticed among intermittent smokers.

After noticing the behaviours, the researchers found that the ads can affect smoking behaviour. It can impact those who want quit this habit and also those who are in the process of doing so.
Professor Joseph N. Cappella, study’s author, said that if it is the case that e-cigarettes are good way to reduce tobacco addiction, then they do not want to stand in the way of the advertising.

“But it doesn’t mean we couldn’t carry out that advertising without the vaping cues in order to not have these deleterious consequences”, said Cappella.

Earlier as well, some experts have said that advertisements do impact the mindset. In the novel research published in the journal Health Communication, the researchers said that the ads can indeed increase the urge to smoke traditional cigarettes.