Toronto vapers are up in arms over the CN Tower's latest campaign
Toronto's CN Tower lights up in different colour schemes nightly to honour a variety of different causes, but tonight's theme is causing a bit of an uproar among the city's vape enthusiasts.
The CN Tower's official Twitter account shared a post Monday morning stating that the landmark would light up in yellow and black for Anti-Vaping Awareness Day on the evening of May 3, resulting in backlash among those who say that vaping has been life-saving for former cigarette smokers, and that discouraging it could lead to more deaths.
Tonight the #CNTower will be lit yellow and black for Anti-Vaping Awareness Day / Ce soir la #TourCN sera illuminée en jaune et noir pour la journée de sensibilisation contre le vapotage pic.twitter.com/J26AsRcvJ8
— CN Tower/La Tour CN (@TourCNTower) May 3, 2021
"45,000 Canadians die each year from smoking," wrote the Canadian Vaping Assocation in response to the tweet.
"Vaping is widely recognized as less harmful than smoking. Campaigns like these confuse smokers and discourage harm reduction."
@TourCNTower would you consider participating in a Anti-Condom or Anti-Seatbelt Awareness campaign? This post does just that by confusing the solution to deadly tobacco smoke with to the solution that is 95% less harmful : VAPING
— John Xydous (@johnxydous) May 3, 2021
The vast majority of the more than 70 replies to the tweet are critical, with messages coming from pro-vaping organizations and members of the public alike.
The CN Tower has been doing damage control by linking to the federal government's anti-vaping campaign webpage.
To learn more about this campaign, please visit https://t.co/Y4RPpduc9a
— CN Tower/La Tour CN (@TourCNTower) May 3, 2021
"Vaping has risks and the long-term health effects of vaping are unknown," reads the campaign. "Youth and non-smokers should not vape. Vaping is a less harmful option only for people who are already smoking if they quit smoking and switch completely. Less harmful doesn't mean harmless."
The campaign contains safety warnings about vaping including the fact that it can lead to a nicotine addiction, expose vapers to harmful chemicals and metals and that the long-term health impacts of vaping are unknown.
But the campaign appears to mostly target youth vapers, and it includes an extensive section about how to deal with peer pressure related to vaping.
Thank you @TourCNTower for showing the country you support cigarettes and everything that comes with them. Absolutely appalling.
— Cloud Chaserz Inc. (@cloudchaserzyyc) May 3, 2021
"Did you know that peer pressure is one of the most common reasons why so many youth said they started to vape, and the majority of teenagers who tried vaping did it with others?" reads the webpage.
"Many youth think that vaping for the first time is not risky because people around them do it, but don't be fooled into vaping. It's not harmless."
Wow. This initiative can also be called go back to smoking!! Love that a Canadian landmark is being used to encourage people back to smoking. Way to go @TourCNTower https://t.co/2Vn7kES4mK
— Maria Papaioannoy-Duic (@papaioannoy) May 3, 2021
Critics of the CN Tower's tweet say making the distinction between who should and shouldn't be vaping is necessary, adding that without it, the message being communicated to the public is that vaping should be avoided across the board.
"You understand you are telling about a million Canadian adults to return to smoking. Right?" wrote one resident.
"Don't bother sending me the campaign link. It doesn't matter who your target audience is. You didn't differentiate."
