In a comprehensive new international survey, We Are Innovation sought to better understand current smokers’ views on the relative risks of vaping compared to traditional smoking. The survey, conducted by Ipsos amongst nearly 27,000 smokers across 28 countries, uncovered some startling findings.
The topline result is sobering — a full 74 percent of smokers worldwide believe that vaping is just as harmful or more harmful than smoking combustible cigarettes. This widespread misinformation represents a major public health challenge and a significant barrier to smokers switching to proven safer nicotine alternatives.
The poll reveals a global “misperception epidemic” when it comes to smokers’ understanding of the risks. In countries like Brazil, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Kazakhstan, over 80 percent of smokers think vaping is equally or more harmful than smoking tobacco. Conversely, there are relative bright spots in places like Italy, Czech Republic, France and the United Kingdom where smokers have a more accurate understanding that vaping presents lower risk. However, even in those “higher awareness” countries, around half or more of smokers still buy into the false equivalence of vaping and smoking risks. Clearly, educational efforts have a long way to go in correcting these dangerous misperceptions that are preventing smokers from quitting through innovative alternatives.
The consequences are grave. If smokers are operating under the mistaken assumption that vaping is no better than smoking, they are far less likely to even try these potentially life-saving products as a way to quit combustibles. Misinformation is stifling innovation and blocking smokers’ off-ramps from cigarettes.
This pioneering global study highlights an urgent need for public health organizations, policymakers and tobacco harm reduction advocates, and other stakeholders to directly counter false narratives equating vaping to smoking risks. Correcting these entrenched misperceptions through evidence-based education could quite literally save millions of smokers’ lives by giving them accurate risk information to make informed decisions.
