Marketers are being faulted for using "Fomo" (fear of missing out) to drive vape uptake in Kenya, where social media and influencer culture are accelerating the product’s popularity.
Fomo taps into a psychological trigger, making people fear that others are having more rewarding experiences and they are being left out. Through this, critics say it has made vaping look like a product that is urgent and desirable, yet pulmonologists warn of its risks.
“A lot of it has to do with Fomo,” says Nyandia Gachago, a chartered marketer. “Fomo is a marketing strategy, you’ll see someone carrying a Louis Vuitton bag and want it. It’s the same for vaping, you’ll see everybody on TikTok and in the club vaping, and it looks cool, and just by association, you want to do it too.”
The marketing expert also cites the attractive packaging of vapes as another point of appeal. “The product has been designed to look less dirty and dangerous [compared to a cigarette]. They’ve been made to look like accessories that you can put anywhere, even hang on your bag like those trendy keychains. So girls even think about buying different colours of vapes to match each bag they own,” Ms Gachago says.
Access to them is also easy. Multiple online shops promise to offer delivery to your doorstep, but they can also be found in select supermarkets, petrol stations, or liquor stores.
With women often perceived as more health-conscious, Ms Gachago notes that vapes are marketed as less harmful and more flavourful, which has attracted many female consumers. “It doesn’t smell bad, so you end up taking in more nicotine than you typically would with cigarettes” she says.
Health risks
However, Dr Andrew Oduor, a pulmonologist, says the side effects are similar to cigarettes. “Starting from the mouth, people can experience dryness of the mouth and throat, or end up with inflamed tonsils. It also affects the lungs,” he says. “And some of these symptoms, especially the ones related to the lungs, studies show that they’ll be more pronounced in women compared to men.”
Dr Oduor shares one such case, “A lady came to us with lung failure. She said she had vaped. She’s in recovery now, but her lungs are scarred, and she is still quite young. Most of the people who have these lung problems are usually female. I'm not saying men don’t get it, but it's much more prevalent in women. Maybe it's just the biology of how women are built up - women tend to be smaller and men tend to be a bit bigger, so men's lungs are bigger.”
Vaping can also activate other underlying respiratory conditions. “If you have asthma, it may trigger it and worsen it. Similarly, if you have any other respiratory condition, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, it may also trigger that,” Dr Oduor notes.
And these problems are not solely restricted to the one who vapes. “The passive smoke is not as harmful as that of cigarettes, but the risk still exists. If, for example, you are the one with asthma, and someone smokes next to you, that could be a problem.”
The vape aerosol also contains some of the volatile compounds that could increase the risk of cancer. Outside the respiratory system, vaping also carries cardiovascular risks such as stroke and heart attack.
Nicotine addiction, driven by the primary agent in vapes, is increasingly prevalent among young women, some under 25. “With continued use, the brain thinks that excitement is normal, which is something that can easily get out of hand and can make you start smoking cigarettes because the vape is not satisfying the need to get high fast enough,” Dr Oduor says. →[email protected]
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