Massachusetts bill would ban tobacco sales to those under 21

The researchers noted that when middles schools students said that they regularly saw advertisements of e-cigarettes online, that made them nearly three times more likely to use such gaping devices that their peers who had never seen such advertisements.

A person holds an electronic MarkTen cigarette as seen in this photo illustration shot in Washington March 17, 2015. Since the vast majority of such devices were introduced after 2007, the rule could decimate access to e-cigarettes and kill off many small vaping companies, critics argued.

"Many of the ads we're seeing for e-cigarettes today - that rely on sex, independence and rebellion - look eerily like the ads that were used to sell cigarettes and other conventional tobacco products for generations", said Brian King, Ph.D., deputy director for research translation in the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. "Exposure to e-cigarette advertising is associated with youth e-cigarette use".

The findings of the report found an increase of 500,000 middle school and high school students began using e-cigarette past year, taking the total three million. A new study suggests that the chances of teens using e-cigarettes are increased due to advertisements. In 2013, almost 77 percent of people who recently used e-cigarettes also smoke regular cigarettes. High school students that routinely saw newspaper ads were 71 percent more likely to use the devices.

Analyzing data from the 2014 NYTS, CDC researchers found that the greater the exposure to e-cigarette advertisements among middle and high school students, the greater the odds of their e-cigarette use.

Not only that, but the study has also found that it can inherently aid in improving population health by reducing or completely eliminating the use of cigarettes, especially for those who want to quit smoking.

On the other hand, those high school kids who watched online e-cigarettes frequently were twice more likely to use the device.

They were also asked about how many times they saw ads for these items.

Since students were surveyed at a single point in time, the study can't prove that seeing e-cigarette advertising preceded, and therefore might have caused, kids to take up e-cigarettes. "The unrestricted marketing of e-cigarettes and dramatic increases in their use by youth could reverse decades of progress in preventing tobacco use among youth".

"While e-cigarettes may act as a gateway to smoking, much of the evidence indicates that e-cigarette use encourages cessation from cigarettes by those people who would have otherwise smoked with or without e-cigarettes", said lead researcher David Levy, professor at Georgetown University in the US.

"Advertising is thought to make product use seem more normative and acceptable, and to convey the impression that positive outcomes like having fun or feeling attractive will result from use", Shadel said by email.