Characterising 24 vaping education integrated media campaigns in Australia

Are vaping education campaigns in Australia hitting the mark?

Youth vaping remains one of Australia's most critical public health concerns, and integrated-media education campaigns have become one of the primary tools to shape the public’s perceptions and behaviours towards vaping. NCYSUR PhD candidate Ms Jiaxin Li has conducted the first systematic characterisation of 24 vaping education campaigns in Australia before May 2025, to examine what Australians are actually being told about vaping, and whether those messages reflect what the evidence recommends.

What did the study find?

Vaping education campaigns in Australia largely communicated the harms of vaping, including health risks, nicotine addiction, and exposure to harmful chemicals. This aligns with established public health evidence and has been done well.

However, three gaps stand out.

First, more than half of campaigns drew direct comparisons between vaping and smoking, framing e-cigarettes as equally harmful or positioning vaping as a gateway to cigarettes. While well-intentioned, this framing carries unintended risks. Telling young people that vaping is no better than smoking may inadvertently make cigarettes seem less harmful by comparison. Suggesting that vaping inevitably leads to smoking could also normalise cigarette use for young people who already vape. These messages should be carefully handled.

Second, most campaigns emphasised long-term health consequences. Yet research consistently shows that short-term, personally relevant consequences tend to resonate more strongly with young people, such as financial cost, social pressure, and industry manipulation. These themes were underrepresented.

Third, almost half of the campaigns reviewed provided vague or no practical guidance on what audiences could actually do. Clear, actionable steps, such as how to refuse a vape and manage peer pressure, what people can do to instantly manage cravings, or how parents and teachers can open conversations with young people, were largely absent.

What are the implications for policy and practice?

For governments, health agencies, and community organisations currently designing or commissioning vaping resources, these findings provide a detailed picture of where existing campaigns do well and fall short. Future campaigns could place greater emphasis on short-term, personally relevant consequences, provide clear behavioural guidance tailored to different audiences, and handle smoking comparisons with greater care to avoid unintended messages.

Read the research:

Li J, Lim CCW, Lee YY, Stjepanović D, Sun T. Characterising 24 vaping education integrated media campaigns in Australia. Tobacco Control 2026; 20 May. 

Ms Jiaxin Li is a PhD candidate at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research (NCYSUR), School of Psychology, University of Queensland, supervised by Dr Daniel Stjepanović.

In this issue