‘Vape is the toxic friend you don’t need’: Singapore health board cautions against smoking in quirky ad (Video)

Screengrab from a video advert showing a man and his vape ‘friend’ clinging onto him. Photo: Health Promotion Board Singapore
Screengrab from a video advert showing a man and his vape ‘friend’ clinging onto him. Photo: Health Promotion Board Singapore

Posters condemning the illegal use of vapes have been put up in public areas recently. Its latest advertisement is a peculiar watch.  

The Singapore Health Promotion Board has ramped up its efforts to discourage the use of vapes in a 45-second ad posted on their socials on Friday. 

“Vape is the toxic friend you don’t need,” the video caption read.

The ad takes place in a counseling setting where the therapist is sitting across from an addict and his vape played by a man in a costume (which also looks somewhat suggestive).

“I thought he was cool at first but… he’s just a bad influence,” the addict said.

He then tells the therapist that his vape gets him into “all sorts of trouble” and is “too clingy.” 

He also feels “suffocated” by him and is “literally killing” him.

Another advert showing a man coughing and his vape ‘friend’ next to him. Photo: Health Promotion Board Singapore

The Health Sciences Authority has revealed last month that close to 5,000 were caught using and possessing vapes last year, which is four times more than in 2020. 

A 36-year-old man last month was caught selling prohibited electronic vaporizers to students from a retail outlet in a neighborhood shopping mall in the West.

Using or owning an electronic vaporizer results in fines of up to S$2,000 per offense. Those convicted of selling, offering for sale, possessing for sale, importing or distributing vaporizers could face up to S$10,000 fine and six months in jail.

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