Here’s a proposition for smokers – we’ll make cigarettes safe, we’ll take you out of the cold and we’ll save you 70% to boot.
You’d think Americans would drop their Marlboros and head for these products in a heartbeat!
You’d think Americans would drop their Marlboros and head for these products in a heartbeat!
But they're not – at least not anywhere in the volume you’d expect.
This is despite the fact that some e-Cig Co’s are practically giving away the devices so you only have to pay as you go - the nicotine version of giving away the razor to sell the blades.
If you’d done your homework on how the tobacco companies understood their customers’ motivation and then spoke to your average smoker, you’d quickly understand why.
Smokers don’t necessarily want a safer cigarette. They say they do but they are much more neurotic about their habit than that – and self-flagellation is part of the deal. Paying too much and being forced out into the cold to smoke has become a misery-loves-camaraderie ritual. Then there is the familiarity of the always-available soft little tube of reassurance – something that can’t be found with an electronic tube.
The amazing irony is that the people whom you might think would support eCigarettes, health groups and government officials are not. We get the revenue issues – both are dependent on the fabulous tax bounty of smoking. But this where it gets sticky – they also claim these products are not safe. Or at least, not proven safe – unlike cigarettes, which are proven deadly. In other words, once they’re proved deadly then they can take a position on eCigarettes.
That’s the irony – once they’re proven deadly, they become appealing to smokers again! So the eCigarette people (sometimes referred to as vapers) are effectively un-selling eCigarettes while the anti-eCigarette people, by claiming these are not safe are actually selling these products.
Welcome to the looking-glass world of marketing!
Smokers don’t necessarily want a safer cigarette. They say they do but they are much more neurotic about their habit than that – and self-flagellation is part of the deal. Paying too much and being forced out into the cold to smoke has become a misery-loves-camaraderie ritual. Then there is the familiarity of the always-available soft little tube of reassurance – something that can’t be found with an electronic tube.
The amazing irony is that the people whom you might think would support eCigarettes, health groups and government officials are not. We get the revenue issues – both are dependent on the fabulous tax bounty of smoking. But this where it gets sticky – they also claim these products are not safe. Or at least, not proven safe – unlike cigarettes, which are proven deadly. In other words, once they’re proved deadly then they can take a position on eCigarettes.
That’s the irony – once they’re proven deadly, they become appealing to smokers again! So the eCigarette people (sometimes referred to as vapers) are effectively un-selling eCigarettes while the anti-eCigarette people, by claiming these are not safe are actually selling these products.
Welcome to the looking-glass world of marketing!
© 2009 Alan Brody
