When smoking gets better press than vaping

[Toby iVapour]

From this article -
https://tobaccoreporter.com/2023/10/01/star-power/

Celebrity news sites have reported sightings of Sasha Obama, the daughter of the former president, smoking cigarettes. There she is, puffing with friends outside a glamourous Los Angeles party. And here, exhaling while exiting a luxury wellness spa. She makes no apparent attempt to evade the photographers.
No longer taboo, cigarettes are increasingly seen dangling from the lips of celebrities, on the streets and on-screen. Once-ubiquitous mentions of vaping as trendy and cool have gone up in smoke. Cigarettes, by contrast, appear to be inching back toward social acceptability. Worse, this may be coming at the expense of the vastly less harmful alternative nicotine product.

Lily-Rose Depp, aged 24, apparently also smokes in real life. She left the Cannes premiere of The Idol in vintage Chanel, accessorized with cat-eye sunglasses and a lit cigarette.
“The smoking is a conscious decision. She looks fabulous, unfortunately,” a nightlife reporter told The Guardian newspaper. The article, titled “Celebrities are Smoking Again,” states that “many Gen Z stars are holding old Hollywood’s once beloved props,” eschewing green juices and yoga mats. A paparazzo states that for years, stars asked him to delete snaps showing them smoking. No longer.
Raising the issue of e-cigarette use, the article says it “may lack the star power of cigarettes.” The nightlife reporter is quoted as saying, “I’m not sure it ever looked cool to vape, but it definitely doesn’t look cool now” and that culturally, “vaping has entered its death phase.”

Over 99 percent of the 444 “tobacco incidents” identified in their sample of programs featured combustible cigarettes. Just nine featured vaping, and eight of those came from a single series (Fuller House).

It's certainly true that on TV & film, there are still way more people smoking than vaping (maybe it's considered a better prop?)...

I have frequently said to the screen "Haven't they heard of vaping?"...
.. and (especially in futuristic shows) - "Surely they would have vaped instead?"

News Coverage Imbalance
Of course, there’s more to press coverage than celebrity news. Another thing making vaping uncool is the steady drip of media reports on purported health risks of e-cigarettes.
… the sheer quantity of negative press about vaping versus smoking gives the impression that e-cigarettes are at least as dangerous, and perhaps more so, than cigarettes. And research shows that’s exactly what the public has come to believe.

 

[Richard Winter]

Unfortunately a lot of people believe what they see and read. There has and continues to be so much bad press about vaping that people will start to believe it.
The world is full of misguided information and I dont see it changing anytime soon.