--- 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Big Tobacco Is Ramming Home the Message About the Dangers of E-Cigarettes 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"}}]}] ```