ABC15 and John Wickwire Catch Another Mall Kiosk Selling E-cigs to Children

A few weeks ago I reported on an undercover sting operation conducted by KSHB-TV in Kansas City, (an NBC affiliate) where they caught a couple of e-cig retailers letting kids try them at the mall. Now there is a new story in Arizona, from TV ABC15.

And guess what? It's the same guy from Kansas. Same quotes, same everything. It's the same exact story almost down to the letter.

From the original story in Kansas:

John Wickwire says his 17-year-old son came home from the mall and talked all about electronic cigarettes.  John says his son was with a group of teens who were all under age 18 except for one.

"He came home all excited, and I was like, freaked, and I think he was surprised by how I reacted.

"He's excited and saying, 'Oh, yeah, there's this new thing. It's so cool. They have these flavors,' and I'm like, 'What is it?'
 
"And then he said, 'Oh, it's this new kind of cigarette'.

"And I'm like, 'No, I don't want you doing cigarettes'," Wickwire said.

Wickwire thinks there's a better place for this product than the mall.

"It's nicotine.  It's addictive. It should be in a drugstore," Wickwire said.

And now for the new one in Arizona:

That's the question John Wickwire asked when his 17-year-old son came home from the mall.

“He come (home) excited and saying, 'Oh yeah, there's this new thing. It's so cool. They have these flavors,' and I'm like, 'what is it?' Oh, it's this new kind of cigarette,” said Widkwire.

Wickwire thinks there's a better place for this product than the mall.

“It's nicotine. It's addictive. It should be in a drugstore,” said Wickwire.

Now, besides for the lack of an editor to catch their sources name is mispelled, it seems "reporter" Joe Ducey is just rehashing another stations story. And it should be pointed out that the other station is NBC!! Is this good journalism? No, but it's modern journalism.

You see, both stations are owned by Scripps TV Station Group. So while you think you are getting local news from your local news station, if it's owned by Scripps, it might just be the same old story they are running on all their stations across the nation. 

Or.... not to sound all conspiracy nut here, is it a concerted effort by someone to get bad press for the electronic cigarette? Has one of the anti smoking groups influenced Scripps or perhaps one of their drug company advertisers has talked them into helping to squash the competition?

I'm betting the latter and will be keeping my eye out to see how often this story resurfaces in other cities.

Again, i'm very against selling ecigs to kids, or even letting them try them. My own 17 year old came home a while back with a story of trying the no nicotine one at our local mall in the kiosk there and let me tell you, some people got an ear full of my opinions on that matter.

However, I'm not surprised the company in question is Smoking Everywhere. This company just honestly seems to be out to torpedo the entire industry with their bad products, bad service and really bad employees.

Reputable companies do not sell to children. E-cigs are not for kids. We should all stand up and demand the ones that do be sanctioned or that e-cigs be added to the laws banning the sale of tobacco products to those under 18 if retailers can't control their employees. Of course, what are the fines? I also know it's no problem for the teens in my neighborhood to buy cigarettes, yet you don't see a whole lot of undercover reports on that, from the news channels or from the cops.

In the end the point is this: E-cigs should not be sold to kids, and perhaps not in malls.

But more importantly, you have to take what your local news says with a grain of salt. That "Breaking Local Story" might just be corporate lobbying or advertising in disguise.