E-cigarette brands are preparing to ramp up efforts to communicate their quality positioning and reassure consumers in the face of tougher regulations that will see the devices regulated as medicines.
From 2016, all nicotine containing devices must be regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to give the public confidence the products are safe and meet stringent quality standards.
There is currently no specific legislation or advertising code regarding the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes. Following the reclassification of e-cigarettes a medicines, the marketing brands use is likely to come under greater scrutiny and many of the advertising approaches will no longer be acceptable, according to law firm Lewis Silkin.
Tony Scanlan, chief executive of the Gamucci brand, told Marketing Week, that while the brand will not change its overarching marketing message as a result of the new regulations, it will be running communications to reiterate its quality credentials to its retail partners and consumers.
“We already have stringent quality processes and we will go out to our retailers and customers to say our product has been around since 2007 and we will be maintaining that quality. We have hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers,” he says.
He added that while the industry had been expecting a “lighter tough” from Government there is a need for a certain level of regulation to ensure the industry meets quality standards. He claims there are currently smaller operators that do not meet the high standards consumers expect.
Adrian Everett, CEO of E-Lites, says there is a need for “clarification” over the implication that e-cigarettes currently on the market “are not good enough to meet this public health priority”. He adds the statement from the MHRA was “irresponsibly contextualised” because current devices are not classed as medicines and so therefore cannot meet the standards.
The Editor Speaks:
Basically what is being said here is that when the new laws kick is the small business owners will lose out to the corp owned companies. These small businesses that have made the e-cigarette industry the success that it is will no longer be able to afford to operate.
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