The company Elf Bar is accused of marketing its disposable vapes to minors. Last summer, an investigation revealed that the company pays young influencers to spread its advertising. Now the company is using the same tactic to counter piracy.
Since the summer of 2022, a video clip from factories producing disposable cigars labeled as "Elf Bars" has been circulating. The clip shows staff sampling the disposable models directly on the production line, without protection on the nozzle. The clip has sparked debates on social media, including in Sweden. It is unclear who spread the video, but the reaction from GeekVape, which owns Elf Barhas now become a controversial campaign in itself.
"The company openly pays teenagers to promote its "genuine" products. It doesn't matter if the message is to counter fake Elfbars. They are exploiting young people, minors, to spread their agenda and it is devastating to vejping everywhere" says the reviewer and vejp activist Jai Haze in one of its posts on YouTube.
Paying young influencers
In conjunction with the campaign, Elf Bar also published a report revealing that it had shut down 120 illegal factories producing fake Elf Bars. Something that Vejpkollen recently reported on.
Geekvape's campaign to raise awareness of piracy has received positive criticism, including from the UK trade association UKVIA. At the same time, it has emerged that the company has chosen to use young influencers to promote the campaign. The offer involves paying to show pictures of well-organized factory environments, where GeekVape claims to produce authentic Elf Bar. Something that Jai Haze interpret as fraudulent.
"We can't possibly know if these are real pictures or not" says Jai Haze. "The market for disposable models, real or fake, is huge and everyone competes with everyone. It's incredibly difficult to check if this is real or not. Regardless, it shows that the company is willing to pay young people to spread its message. I don't see it as information, but as propaganda." Says Jai Haze who states that he has also been contacted by GeekVape to participate in the campaign.
Elf Bar in the spotlight even before
Even before the reports of fake Elfbars, GeekVape has been criticized for using young influencers to promote the Elf Bar. This is particularly the case in the United States, where the age limit for buying e-cigarettes was recently raised to 21. But the UK media has also reacted. Earlier this year, the Observer newspaper revealed several cases where Elf Bar frequently appeared on social media, mainly TikTok, via posts that were not age-restricted.
"We are doing everything we can to address the problem. Toiletries should not fall into the hands of minors. We are doing everything we can to shut down unofficial Elf Bar promotions on social media from rogue retailers. All Elf Bar packaging clearly states that our products are not for sale to anyone under the age of 18." Elf Bar said in a statement to The Guardian Observer.
