Old tobacco playbook gets new use by e-cigarettes [View all]

[Arctic Dave]

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM — AP Tobacco Writer


RICHMOND, Va. — Companies vying for a stake in the fast-growing electronic cigarette business are reviving the decades-old marketing tactics the tobacco industry used to hook generations of Americans on regular smokes.

They're using cab-top and bus stop displays, sponsoring race cars and events, and encouraging smokers to "rise from the ashes" and take back their freedom in slick TV commercials featuring celebrities like TV personality Jenny McCarthy.

The Food and Drug Administration plans to set marketing and product regulations for electronic cigarettes in the near future. But for now, almost anything goes.

"Right now it's the wild, wild west," Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/08/03/3006329/old-tobacco-playbook-gets-new.html#storylink=cpy