The vape escape has begun.
To mark World Smokefree Day today, Tūhura Otago Museum has launched the "Escape the Vape!" national poster competition, which encourages young people to design a poster portraying "the reality of vaping and vaping culture" as they see it.
Museum communicator Christine Wierda said the museum was teaming up with Dunedin artist Bruce Mahalski and Phantom Billstickers to demystify the science around smoking and vaping, in support of the Government’s aim of a Smokefree Aotearoa by 2025.
The winning poster will be part of a hands-on science showcase that will tour the country to provide evidence-based insights into the impacts of smoking and vaping.
"As a country, we’ve championed some visionary policies that have significantly reduced the prevalence of smoking and its associated harm.
"However, alongside this success, we have seen vaping change from a tool that could replace smoking, to a highly addictive social accessory targeted at our rangatahi.
"Tobacco companies have expanded their product range as smoking declines and have used vapes as a new means of delivering nicotine to hook their next generation of consumers."
Project partner University of Otago public health and Aspire co-director Prof Janet Hoek said smoking still killed nearly 5000 New Zealanders every year, and although vaping posed fewer physical risks than smoking, it was not harmless.
"Its long-term impacts remain unknown. The time for candid discussions about this addictive and potentially harmful practice is well overdue.
"The poster competition aims to prompt reflection on what vaping is really doing to rangatahi.
"It’s an opportunity to call out fake information and/or misplaced perceptions around vaping, and highlight the impact it has on friends, whānau, schools and communities," she said.
By providing the science and facts in an interactive and engaging fashion, the team hoped to help New Zealand’s young people make well-informed decisions and see through the marketing hype that once surrounded tobacco and that was now being used to promote vaping.
By John Lewis
