Campus News

Vaping devices with video games

Bokie Muigai October 11, 2024
vaping device

Recently, there has been a noticeable ‘nostalgia’ trend on social media ranging from early 2000s fashion to retro gaming. In today’s digital age, popular games from the 1980s and 1990s are experiencing a resurgence and being introduced to new audiences. According to researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, one industry that has noticed this popularity is e-cigarette companies who have started to produce new vaping devices that contain video games leaning into this trend.

“We have observed several new vaping devices that contain video games that resemble popular games such as Pac-Man, Tetris, Mario, and even virtual pets,” says Jennifer Unger, PhD, professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine. This comes at a time when the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned e-cigarette companies to stop selling vaping products that resemble toys because they could attract youth to nicotine use.

“At our USC Tobacco Center of Regulatory Sciences (USC TCORS), we survey and identify new tobacco products on the market that might entice adolescents and young adults into vaping, or using other types of tobacco. Our investigators research the more subtle attributes of tobacco marketing that attract youth consumers and investigate why kids like these products and what the products do. In our latest research, we found that these products are made to be attractive to teenagers, especially when vaping is directly tied into a reward system in the game. If a teenager gets a hold of these, they are going to think they are really fun,” says Unger.

The team of researchers found that these devices gamify the vaping experience and encourage users to take more puffs to earn points and compete with their peers. This could potentially lead to increased levels of nicotine intake and dependence. Unger states that this is a concern because gaming and vaping nicotine are two addictive behaviors that have become prevalent among young people in recent decades.

“When doing the two activities together, you are probably going to become addicted to the dopamine hit of both. You are getting rewarded when you win the game, and you are rewarded with nicotine as you vape — the two behaviors can start to become associated with each other in your mind. You are also probably going to consume more nicotine that you intended,” she shares.

Unger explains that lack of enforcement fuels underage use of nicotine products. “We found that several tobacco company websites have lax age verification processes. To access the website, it asks whether you are 21 years of age, and once you click yes, it does not verify your response with a driver’s license. When it comes purchasing these devices at stores, some clerks are great about checking IDs, but in some stores, it varies across clerks. Once kids find out who the lenient clerk is, they approach that person,” she shares.

Unger’s research mission is to document behaviors going on in the real-world to further inform regulation. “There are many opportunities to examine the subtle techniques that companies are using to entice children. Nicotine products that appeal to youth shouldn’t exist, and marketing that targets kids through cute and fun products should be banned,” she affirms. Similarly, she aims to gain a better understanding of why children enjoy these products and how they think they may enhance their lives to explore other ways to meet those needs.


Other co-authors include Julia Vassey, Daniel Wood Soto and Artur Galimov, all of the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.