West Chester University marketing students are fuming that vaping is inhaling an entire nation with more than 2.1 million youth and about one-third of college students currently using e-cigarettes (National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2023 and Respiratory Care, 2023). Members of the WESCON Student Marketing Club banded together recently to help their college peers publicly commit to “quit the stick” during a high-energy event aligned with the Great American Smokeout.

“I grew up among a generation of cigarette smokers and, quite sadly, see vaping taking us straight back to those deadly days,” said Professor of Marketing Tom Elmer while on stage addressing the nearly 70 students who gathered on the Academic Quad. “All of us need to take a stand for the preservation of today’s youth and it starts with each one of us. It’s time to #QuitTheStick, folks.”

Accompanying Elmer and the marketing students on stage was an oversized, six-foot replica of the “Depression Stick” — a fluorescent orange, simulated vaping devise built by the marketing students to personify the “anxiety” that nicotine vaping is reported to induce. The “Depression Stick” was conceptualized by the Truth Initiative, a nonprofit health organization dedicated to educating today’s youth about the dangers associated with commercial tobacco and nicotine addiction. 

“During the pandemic, more people started vaping due to loneliness and isolation,” said marketing student Kresstoph Whittick to the student audience. 

“How many of you think vaping is safer than smoking cigarettes?” asked Whittick. Nearly all hands raised in the audience.

“Guess what? Vaping has been associated with lung injuries and death,” Whittick said. “Most fail to realize that vaping is bad for your heart and lungs, and it is addictive because of the high levels of nicotine. Do you even know the chemicals that you are exposing yourself to? There is a better way and it starts with quitting.”

Zach Starr, a promising Student Entrepreneur in Residence at the university’s Cottrell Entrepreneurship Center, reinforced the message of quitting to help future generations.

“Gen Z, we were supposed to be the generation to end cigarettes,” said Starr. “Everyone is affected by this problem. We need to band together, make a difference and fight against tobacco. It is our due-diligence. Support and accountability are the answer.”

Starr is actively challenging the burgeoning vaping industry. His company, Quix Labs, created The Quix as the first all-in-one disposable aerosol system that delivers a nicotine-reduced experience to consumers as a viable way to empower individuals to eventually kick-the-habit. Offering four nicotine-reduced strengths, the tobacco-free product enables users to experience what it is like to use lower and nicotine-free alternatives. As a manufacturer and distributor of the first nicotine-reduction focused smoking alternative, the company has sold the product to distributors in the U.K.

Elmer ended the educational experience by detailing the many support programs that exist to support those seeking to “quit the stick.”

“You can do this and there is help,” he reinforced. “Chester County Hospital has a six-week virtual program and the Truth Initiative has a text program. There are others and there are strategies to get you through. Have a support system with names and phone numbers. Quitting vaping is one of the most important things that you will ever do for yourself and those who care about you.”

At the conclusion of the event, audience members were given anti-vape t-shirts designed by WESCON Student Marketing Club members Keegan Barr, McCaffery Gray, Ky Maris, Destiny Pagan, Nikita Pisarenko, and Kresstoph Whittick.

Throughout the year, the members of the WESCON Student Marketing Club are immersed in experiential learning opportunities identified by the Marketing Department at the University’s College of Business and Public Management. “We strive for WESCON student consultants to be trained to work on a variety of digital marketing challenges and for the students’ input to lead to actual solutions that can be applied by small businesses and nonprofits in the area,” Elmer said.

Learn more at West Chester University.