--- title: E-Cigarettes: Tobacco Companies Step Up Health Warnings description: Warnings on some packets now exceed a 100 words. Experts say it's just a corporate image enhancer canonical: https://time.com/3443283/e-cigarette-tobacco-health-warnings-altria-american-reynolds-markten/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-29T04:46:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:27:32.296Z article:section: Health og:title: Tobacco Companies Step Up E-Cigarette Warnings og:description: Experts say it's merely corporate image enhancement og:url: https://time.com/3443283/e-cigarette-tobacco-health-warnings-altria-american-reynolds-markten/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde196269d252660a/6986a5c4810bbb193dc93aa9/e-cigarette_warning.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5459 og:image:height: 3071 og:image:alt: World Health Organisation Calls For Regulation Of Ecigarettes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tobacco Companies Step Up E-Cigarette Warnings twitter:description: Experts say it's merely corporate image enhancement twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde196269d252660a/6986a5c4810bbb193dc93aa9/e-cigarette_warning.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Big Tobacco Is Ramming Home the Message About the Dangers of E-Cigarettes > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Sep 29, 2014 4:46 AM UTC  In this photo illustration, a woman smokes an E-Cigarette at the V-Revolution E-Cigarette shop in Covent Garden on August 27, 2014 in London, England. In this photo illustration, a woman smokes an E-Cigarette at the V-Revolution E-Cigarette shop in Covent Garden on August 27, 2014 in London, England. Dan Kitwood—Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Sep 29, 2014 4:46 AM UTC When it comes to e-cigarettes, large tobacco companies are suddenly [stepping up](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/business/dire-warnings-by-big-tobacco-on-e-smoking-.html?%5Fr=1) warnings about their own products, the New York _Times_ reports. “Nicotine is addictive and habit forming, and is very toxic by inhalation, in contact with the skin, or if swallowed,” reads a warning on packets of e-cigarette made by Altria, the company that manufactures Marlboro cigarettes. Industry experts and critics say the warnings are serving as a legal safeguard or a corporate image-enhancer. “Is this part of a noble effort for the betterment of public health, or a cynical business strategy? I suspect the latter,” said Dr. Robert K. Jackler, a professor and researcher on e-cigarette advertising at the Stanford School of Medicine. MarkTen, a prominent e-cigarette brand, features a 100-word warning that, among other things, reiterates that e-cigarettes are not a way to wean oneself off cigarettes. This warning also appears on Reynolds American’s Vuse e-cigarettes. According to Altria spokesman William Phelps, the MarkTen warning is created with a “a goal to openly and honestly communicate about health effects.” “Why wouldn’t you warn about ‘very toxic’ nicotine on your cigarettes, when you do so on e-cigarettes?” is Jackler’s only question. According to the _Times,_ experts say the strategy is low-risk for the big tobacco companies because many people don’t read the warnings anyway. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/business/dire-warnings-by-big-tobacco-on-e-smoking-.html?%5Fr=1)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3443283/e-cigarette-tobacco-health-warnings-altria-american-reynolds-markten/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3443283/e-cigarette-tobacco-health-warnings-altria-american-reynolds-markten/"},"headline":"Big Tobacco Is Ramming Home the Message About the Dangers of E-Cigarettes","datePublished":"2014-09-29T04:46:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:27:32.296Z","description":"Think of it as corporate image enhancement","url":"https://time.com/3443283/e-cigarette-tobacco-health-warnings-altria-american-reynolds-markten/","keywords":["Addiction","Cigarettes","E-Cigarettes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde196269d252660a/6986a5c4810bbb193dc93aa9/e-cigarette_warning.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde196269d252660a/6986a5c4810bbb193dc93aa9/e-cigarette_warning.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"World Health Organisation Calls For Regulation Of Ecigarettes","caption":"World Health Organisation Calls For Regulation Of Ecigarettes","creditText":"Dan Kitwood—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/addiction/","name":"Addiction"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3443283/e-cigarette-tobacco-health-warnings-altria-american-reynolds-markten/","name":"Big Tobacco Is Ramming Home the Message About the Dangers of E-Cigarettes"}}]}] ```