POLITICO – By THEODORIC MEYER
With David Beavers and Daniel Lippman
The Vapor Technology Association is launching an advertising blitz in an attempt to convince President Donald Trump not to move forward with plans to ban flavored e-cigarettes. Trump announced the ban last month while sitting in the Oval Office, but the trade group’s ad doesn’t fault him at all. Instead, the ad praises Trump for keeping his campaign promises and places blame for the proposed ban on unnamed government “bureaucrats.”
“Despite President Trump’s efforts, bureaucrats are considering a huge new overreach: they’re considering banning flavored vapor,” the ad’s narrator says. “Vaping is at least 95 percent safer than smoking. But if the government bans flavored vapor, 150,000 jobs — gone. Millions will resort to cigarettes or the black market.” The trade group is spending six figures to air the ad on Fox News, including “Fox & Friends,” which Trump is known to watch. The ad will also run online. The group’s membership doesn’t include Juul Labs, the dominant player in the vaping industry, which split with the group over the summer. The ads are expected to start running on Thursday (10/17/2019).