Skyrocking youth exposure to e-cig ads on TV: Lorillard's Blu leads the pack

Jennifer Duke and colleagues just published "Exposure to Electronic Cigarette Television Advertisement Among Youth and Young Adults" in Pediatrics.  This paper shows major penetration into the youth market.
 
Here is the abstract:

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Currently, the US Food and Drug Administration does not regulate electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) marketing unless it is advertised as a smoking cessation aid. To date, the extent to which youth and young adults are exposed to e-cigarette television advertisements is unknown. The objective of this study was to analyze trends in youth and young adult exposure to e-cigarette television advertisements in the United States.

METHODS: Nielsen data on television household audiences’ exposure to e-cigarette advertising across US markets were examined by calendar quarter, year, and sponsor.

RESULTS: Youth exposure to television e-cigarette advertisements, measured by target rating points, increased 256% from 2011 to 2013. Young adult exposure increased 321% over the same period. More than 76% of all youth e-cigarette advertising exposure occurred on cable networks and was driven primarily by an advertising campaign for 1 e-cigarette brand.
 
CONCLUSIONS: E-cigarette companies currently advertise their products to a broad audience that includes 24 million youth. The dramatic increase in youth and young adult television exposure between 2011 and 2013 was driven primarily by a large advertising campaign on national cable networks. In the absence of evidence-based public health messaging, the current e-cigarette television advertising may be promoting beliefs and behaviors that pose harm to the public health. If current trends in e-cigarette television advertising continue, awareness and use of e-cigarettes are likely to increase among youth and young adults.  [emphasis added]

Lorillard's Blu, dominated advertising targeted at the youth (age 12-17) market, with 81.7% of the exposure. 
 
Here is where the advertising appeared:  "In 2013, the cablenetwork AMC aired the most e-cigarette advertising reachingyouth audiences at 8.0%, followed byCountry Music Television (6.1%), ComedyCentral (5.9%), WGN America (5.4%), TV Land (5.3%), and VH1 (5.3%). E-cigarette advertisements appearedon programs (eg,The Bachelor, Big Brother, Survivor) that were among the 100 highest-rated youth programs for the 2012-2103 viewing season."
 

This paper adds to the evidence that the FDA needs to include restrictions on its rule for e-cigarettes nowi rather than waiting for some other rulemaking years from now.
 
The paper is available here.
 
Reuters story is here.  Accompanying editorial in Pediatrics  is here.