After CCTV's 315 Gala Targets Vaping, Where Does the Industry Go?

After the CCTV 315 Gala called out vaping products, where does the vaping industry go from here? The exposure of vaping products on the 315 Gala was destined to be a sleepless night for everyone in the industry, with the Sword of Damocles hanging over the vaping sector suddenly seeming ready to fall.

At the very beginning of 2019, vaping was already at the center of attention. There was too much restlessness, too many aggressive entrepreneurs, and too much hot capital. All the hopes and beautiful expectations surrounding this controversial industry had left it far from calm.

Fortunately, this timely wake-up call has reminded everyone to stay alert, causing some speculative players who rushed in just to cash in on the trend to back out. For the vaping brands willing to continue, now is the time to stop and think: whose interests have you challenged? Have you really understood the potential harms of vaping? Are you truly acting in smokers’ health interests? Are you trying to help smokers switch away from cigarettes? Or is this simply a good business opportunity?

A highly controversial vaping industry

Originally designed as a smoking cessation “substitute,” the vaping product seems to have moved beyond “quitting smoking” as its main selling point in marketing. Debate around the industry has never stopped:

Supporters often cite a statement once released by the UK health authorities claiming that vaping products are 95% less harmful than cigarettes;

Opponents, meanwhile, point to examples of vaping product bans in multiple countries and conclude that their harm is no less than that of traditional cigarettes;

As the vaping user base continues to grow, so too do the voices of controversy.

Many people blame this on the industry encroaching on the interests of traditional tobacco, but isn’t the vague and ambiguous marketing used by some vaping businesses also one of the forces pushing vaping into the spotlight?

Behind the chaos lies a lack of evaluation standards, weak market oversight, and serious consumer misdirection by bad actors. Many people in charge of vaping brands believe that the disorder in the vaping market has become a “malignant tumor” disrupting industry order and urgently needs cleanup and rectification. The vaping market needs regulation. A blank market and lack of regulation have driven entrepreneurs into a gold rush

While many overseas markets have already begun regulating vaping products, in China the sector was still developing in a rough, lightly regulated environment. The huge, still largely blank market drew domestic entrepreneurs to it in droves:

The pod system shown in the 315 footage was a product from RELX, a brand whose monthly pod sales had already reached RMB 60 million. It took just one year for the brand to achieve that level of success;

Many industry elites crossed over to found vaping brands, including Luo Yonghao-linked Flow, Huoqi vaping, Tongdao Dashu-linked YOOZ and LINX, as well as capital-backed brands such as BTM, Wel, EVOVE, and more than a dozen other new vaping brands—all seemingly benchmarking themselves against RELX and going all-in on this track;

However, despite the rapid development of the vaping industry in China, corresponding regulation failed to keep pace.

Vaping: a golden triangle without regulation

In the United States and many Asian countries, vaping products are classified as “tobacco products” and regulated by tobacco authorities. In Europe, Japan, and Taiwan, they are instead managed as “pharmaceutical products.”

A noteworthy detail is that the UK and France, similar to the EU, have also adopted a classified regulatory strategy based on product efficacy: products that meet the definition of medicines or medical devices are regulated as pharmaceutical products, while the rest are treated as tobacco products.

Take France as an example: when vaping products and e-liquids are used for smoking cessation purposes, they are treated as pharmaceutical products regardless of nicotine content or concentration. If they are not intended for smoking cessation, then products with nicotine content ≥10mg or concentration ≥20mg/ml must apply for pharmaceutical authorization and, once approved, are regulated as pharmaceutical products. In China, however, the status of vaping products has been quite awkward.

Domestic tech companies have carried the vaping banner, and market entry barriers for vaping have been far lower than for either “tobacco products” or “pharmaceutical products.” The state has also not stepped in to clearly decide whether vaping should be regulated by tobacco authorities, pharmaceutical authorities, or health departments, or to establish formal standards. With no policy introduced for so long, China’s vaping market has resembled a golden triangle lacking regulation.

It is like a match where the referee never announces the rules, then suddenly says the players’ moves are wrong and hands out penalties in the middle of the game.

According to information currently coming from manufacturers, nicotine is now completely out of stock. It is worth remembering that nicotine salt, an important ingredient in e-liquid, is extracted from nicotine, and nicotine itself has never normally been in short supply on the market. This sudden shortage is very suspicious, and there may be invisible forces intervening behind the scenes. #p#分页标题#e#

Self-discipline and proposals under the 315 warning

Only by first resolving these controversies can the industry take on greater responsibility.

The 315 Gala’s exposure of vaping products serves as a warning to consumers. We call on every participant in the vaping industry to take this issue seriously, actively fulfill social responsibilities, and provide consumers with reliable cigarette alternatives and smoking cessation products under strict standards. We also hope the government will move quickly to formulate laws and regulations for the vaping industry and strictly standardize product requirements. At the same time, we must care about the health of minors and never sell vaping products to underage users. Only in this way can the vaping industry go further and grow stronger.