In an effort to get young adults to quit vaping, the state Department of Public Health has launched a new ad campaign that centers on empathy and resource sharing, which local experts say has been effective in other campaigns involving Franklin County and North Quabbin youth.
The campaign, which targets young adults ages 18 to 24, is called “This Ad Won’t Make You Quit Vaping,” and is designed to use “honest and empathetic” messaging to meet young adults where they are, according to the DPH. It aims to connect them with free resources when they are ready to take steps to quit.
“This campaign makes those supports visible and accessible, and it does so in a way that reflects the voice of young adults themselves,” DPH Commissioner Dr. Robert Goldstein said in a statement. “By removing barriers and connecting young people to trusted, evidence-based care, we are helping to improve both their immediate well-being and their long-term health.”
The initiative provides young adults with the option to text “Start” to 36072 so they can access the Massachusetts Quitline. From there, they can connect with live, trained “quit coaches” by text or phone, and create a personalized plan to quit, with access to free medications such as patches or gum.
The ad is expected to run in both English and Spanish, and will be on social media platforms like Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Google and Twitch.
The campaign is funded through Juul Labs Inc. settlement funds that Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell secured in 2023. Notably, a 2017 to 2018 survey found young adults between 18 and 21 years old who tried Juul increased by more than 400% from July 2017 to October 2018. A different survey explored how many young people started using Juul before they were 18, according to the Truth Initiative. More than eight times as many 15- to 17-year-olds had tried Juul in October 2018 than in August 2017.
The survey also found that the top reasons young people cite for using Juul or e-cigarettes relate to its popularity with other young people, the variety of flavors and the perception that these options are less harmful than other products.
However, statewide data for tobacco use in those ages 18 to 24 has demonstrated a decrease in use since 2019, according to data from the state Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System telephone survey. In 2019, 24.5% of those surveyed said they were using some type of e-tobacco or vaping product compared to just 14% in 2023, which is the most recent data available.
“What we wanted to do with this campaign was to find the strategies that can best help current users of vape products and nicotine pouches who have a desire to quit, and help those with the desire to quit succeed,” Rachel Cohen, senior health communications specialist with the Department of Public Health’s Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program, said about the goal of the new campaign.
Cohen explained that the campaign was backed by research conducted with feedback from 18- to 24-year-olds, who shared that vaping and tobacco use serve as coping mechanisms for anxiety and depression. The campaign sought to express how vaping and tobacco increase these issues.
Rather than take an approach using visceral imagery associated with some smoking ads, which can sometimes backfire and create a sense of denial in viewers, this ad campaign sought to be relevant to the age group with positive and empathetic messaging.
“We felt that young adults needed to be inspired by the prospect of a better life after quitting nicotine, and so research shows that a lot of young adults tend to quit cold turkey,” Cohen explained, “and we know that those are often less successful quit attempts. So we wanted to make sure our Quitline and our resources were relevant to them.”
Additionally, this campaign is the first time the state has segmented out the 18 to 24 population, rather than grouping them into adult campaigns that cover ages 18 and older.
“They’re in different stages of life — high school, college, vocational school, working — and then some of them were in middle and high school when vaping was at its height a few years ago,” Cohen said. “There’s not a lot of media campaigns that we could find that address this audience for this topic.”
As the campaign rolls out, ads will be shown online to viewers this winter, with posters slated for locations in Franklin County, including at Greenfield Community College, and in Hampshire County at Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, according to the DPH.
With the state’s campaign rollout, local efforts to combat youth and young adult tobacco use have been ongoing, with strides made in the right direction.
Kat Allen, coordinator with the Communities That Care Coalition housed within the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), said that a few years ago, e-cigarette use was a greater issue among youth in the county.
“It was definitely something impacting our youth, and the Attorney General’s Office, when they were preparing their lawsuit with Juul, relied on the data from our student health survey that showed how many young people were accessing those products,” Allen said.
The Communities That Care Coalition obtains data from school-age youth through its student health survey, which has surveyed more than 40,000 students in grades eight, 10 and 12 from all nine public school districts in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region since 2003. Recent numbers reflect a decline in the use of substances, including alcohol and tobacco.
In the latest round of data released by the Communities That Care Coalition in October, vaping rates dropped from 15% in 2024 to 12% in 2025, compared to 2019, when more than 30% of respondents were vaping.
“Young people now do realize that vaping is dangerous or is risky or does impact their health, whereas before, it was being marketed as a safer alternative to smoking,” Allen explained of the decrease in use. “Now people understand that it is not safer, and is potentially much more addictive because of the quantities of nicotine that are delivered.”
While the Communities That Care Coalition’s student health survey focuses on youth younger than the 18 to 24 age group that is being targeted by the ad campaign, Allen said education and outreach on vaping at this age benefits teens as they age into their 20s. She said the life skills programs at schools that teach social, emotional and refusal skills to middle schoolers have made an impact on reducing drug and alcohol use later on.
As for ads similar to the “This Ad Won’t Make You Quit Vaping” campaign, Allen said the Communities That Care Coalition has done ads before that also stray from the fear-based campaigns and has leaned into “social marketing campaigns.”
“The fact is that the vast majority of young people aren’t using and when you can correct that misperception, you can have an impact on the perceived peer pressure that young people have,” she explained.
An ad posted outside CVS Pharmacy on Federal Street in Greenfield congratulates teens on their decreased substance use, which Allen said is done to let youth know they aren’t alone in not using substances.
As for the statewide campaign, Allen said she feels the messaging is “wonderful” in that it seeks to support people in the moment. She said a similar effort called “Quit Kits” that Franklin County schools have used complements the state campaign.
Although the county has seen a decline in vaping use, and outreach continues through local and statewide campaigns, Allen said it is important to keep up the work, as new products are emerging like nicotine pouches, and tobacco companies continue to gear marketing toward youth.
“As long as the tobacco companies are there working,” she said, “we have to do work to keep up and try to stay ahead.”