Gen X Heroes and Vapes

We live in a world where Mike Tyson, Snoop Dogg (Death Row), Ronaldinho, Chris Brown, Nicky Jam, Dennis Rodman and Hulk Hogan all have disposable vape brands. With an average age of well over 50, the use of these celebrity names pulls the rug out from under the idea that disposable vapes are marketed to minors.

While some of these celebrities are pure Gen X and others more Millennial facing, the average age of their respective fan bases range from adults in their 30s to adults over 50. 

Gen X and Millennial appealing celebrities receive do not get a free pass from the FDA. On December 19, 2024, the FDA unleashed a series of warning letters directed towards 10 vape distributors and manufacturers.

Most of the products cited in the warning letters were disposable vape devices sold in fruit and beverage inspired artificial flavors. Flavored vapes are the preferred product choice for 90% of adult vapor consumers according to a recent JAMA study.

The brands on this warning letter list, with only a couple exceptions, also had the name or likeness of a celebrity on the box.

Celebrity Branded Vapes

The tobacco industry hasn't used celebrity endorsements and testimonials six decades. These endorsements were adopted in the 1940s after they could no longer roll out fake doctors claiming cigarettes were safe. The history of this notorious practice makes celebrity branded vapes an easy target for lobbyists and regulators.

Powerful groups want to deny adult nicotine users access to any product not that is not tobacco or flavored with artificial tobacco. They will not hesitate to conflate Mike Tyson’s face on the box of 15,000 puff disposable vape, and John Wayne schilling for Camel cigarettes 75 years ago. It may not be fair, but prohibitionists have the ear of the news media.

Marketing practices like celebrity branded vapes give alternative nicotine prohibitionists even more leverage to enact flavor bans. It has been shown that vape flavor bans increase cigarette sales.

This is why Mi-Pod avoids celebrity vape brands. Our goal is to provide ash and smoke free nicotine alternatives for adults to our customers and the retailers.

Leveraging the name of an athlete, entertainer or professional wrestler may boost the sales of one line of vapes, but it compromises the industry as a whole. Even with underage vaping rates hitting a ten-year low, very powerful forces are arrayed against adult access to desirable vaping products.

Best Disposable Vape Collection

Mi-Pod makes a point of offering the best disposable vape selection, obtaining reputable brands directly from the manufacturer and serving as a master distributor for top-selling brands. Whilst popular, the optics of the celebrity themed disposable vapes is simply too fraught.

Any adult who uses disposable vapes is of the overlap when it comes to the available flavors. There is also a technological convergence in terms of puff counts, features and vapor production.

Apart from the celebrity name, the products on the warning list are bog-standard vapes in terms of flavor and hardware. They have the US industry standard nicotine strength of 50mg. Mi-Pod carries an exclusive collection of lower-nicotine vapes and nicotine-free disposables made by trusted brands like Flonq, Geek Bar and Lost Mary.

The available in flavors are the ones that adult vapor consumers prefer such as blue razz, mint, and other fruit-menthol fusion formulas. 

It would not be surprising if the Hulk Hogan or Mike Tyson vapes get their battery hardware from the same facility as a Vuse Alto.

Vaping Faces Hostile Environment

In a science-based and dispassionate world, it would not matter if a 63-year-old NBA Hall of Famer is trying to convince a middle-aged adult nicotine consumer to select their brand of vaping product.  

The issue is that celebrity endorsements are associated with the worst marketing excesses of Big Tobacco like this early 1950s spread. 

These advertisements might be receding from living memory, celebrity endorsements being barred after 1964, but the images have been digitized for eternity. Mi-Pod also refuses to carry products that the trade dress of licensed products, mimic the packaging of food, and avoid any cartoonish characters.  

An outline of Dennis Rodman's face is pretty far removed from the old tobacco marketing schemes but nonetheless is something we are choosing to avoid at this time.

We have no interest in selling our products to anyone adult who is not currently using nicotine. Minors are simply not welcome here. Underage vaping remains an existential threat to adult access despite these number of minors vaping reaching a ten-year low in 2024.

Adult Vapor Consumers Prefer Flavors

The opportunity to isolate and attack celebrity vape business ventures risks distracting the public from the realities of vaping: Most disposable users are legal age adults. Of these adults, the vast majority of these prefer fruit and beverage inspired characterizing flavors.

As currently designed, the FDA regulations would eliminate all these popular products and flavors. This would create a public health catastrophe and a windfall for the tobacco industry, who would be unchallenged in their sale of combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes to adult consumers at the convenience store level.

There is nothing inherently "kid-friendly" about the artificial flavor profiles in disposable vapes. They are simply the best and most popular flavors, found in everything from hard seltzer to kombucha to breath mints.

Unfortunately, we are operating in this hostile environment of regulatory capture and vape prohibitionist lobbying. The vape industry should always be doubly cautious with their marketing.

The Stanford “study” on e-cigarette marketing, which is really a bunch of images, is an embarrassment to the scientific method. But it is a persuasive tool, where images of two women in jean shorts and branded tee-shirts outside of a hotel trade show can be immortalized as “marketing to children.” 

The FDA has proven incapable of regulating vape products with their Premarket Tobacco Authorization scheme, with only a handful of expensive and undesirable tobacco-flavored pod systems approved as of 2024, as opposed to thousands of combustible tobacco products that received marketing granted orders during the same timeframe.

Mi-Pod recognizes the power of celebrity endorsements and bold branding in helping products stand out in a competitive market. We understand why some store owners, particular at convenience stores, would choose a product with a famous name.

However, we have deliberately steered clear of companies adopting these strategies, as they attract unwanted scrutiny from groups seeking to restrict adult access to nicotine products with characterizing fruit flavors.

Nostalgia Sells in Vaping

The prevalence of characterizing flavors in the vaping industry is demand based. Nostalgia marketing is simply a tool to stand out. The most popular artificial fruit flavors in 1978 are the same artificial fruit flavors that appeal to the adult palate now.

With every brand limited to similar combinations of artificial fruit and menthol flavors, nostalgic flavors have always had a leg up. In the age where the vape mod reigned supreme, peak-1980s breakfast cereal inspired vapes were a smash hit.

Almost every disposable vape flavor features some combination of fruit and menthol. Many are crafted to recreate nostalgic carnival and confection classics like blue razz and rocket popsicle.

A celebrity face on the box is a value. One could even argue Nicky Jam and Chris Brown have had some relatively current work during this century. Their prime did not occur when Reagan or Clinton was in office.

But the list below is not one of contemporary entertainers who resonate with minors. There is no Skibidi Toilet to be found. While several of these gentlement were famous before and accomplished much after, here are the dates in which they burst into the nation's cultural zeitgeist. 

• Hulk Hogan (Age 71): March 24, 1985, becomes first pro wrestler featured on a Sports Illustrated cover
• Mike Tyson (Age 58): June 27, 1988, Knocks out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds to become Lineal Heavyweight Champion
• Death Row/ Snoop Dogg (Age 53): January 19, 1993, Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang single released.
• Dennis Rodman (Age 63): June 13, 1989, Wins first of five NBA rings.
• Ronaldinho (Age 44): 2005-2006 Champions League MVP
• Nicky Jam (Age 43): 1997, Los Kangris collaboration with Daddy Yankee Begins
• Chris Brown (Age 35): November 29, 2005, launched self-titled debut album. 

It would be outstanding these celebrities acted like industry stake holders and used their fame and platform to defend adult access to nicotine vaping products.

If they are willing to do so, they could add some balance to a skewed national discussion on alternative products. If these disposable vapes are merely business opportunities, adult vapers could be left with even less access to desirable products due to the use of celebrity likenesses.