Sep 18, 2019 - Health

CBS, WarnerMedia and Viacom will no longer run e-cigarette advertising

Orion Rummler

In this image, a man blows a cloud of smoke while vaping outside — Photo: Eva Hambach/AFP/Getty Images

CBS will no longer run advertisements from any e-cigarette company as a matter of policy, a company spokesperson confirmed to Axios on Wednesday.

What's happening: CBS joins CNN and its parent company, WarnerMedia, in banning e-cigarette ads, as first reported by CNBC and The Daily Beast. Viacom, which is in the middle of a massive merger with CBS, also told CNBC on Wednesday the network will stop running e-cigarette ads.

New York and Michigan moved to ban flavored e-cigarettes this month, as the Trump administration says it is finalizing plans to pull all flavored e-cigarette cartridges from the market.

Our thought bubble, via Axios' Sara Fischer: News companies have discretion over the types of ads they will or won't accept. In a tough news economy, they try to be as open to all viewpoints as possible, but in recent years, news organizations have drawn the line over products that could harm public safety — like guns or nicotine.

Where it stands: 7 people have died in the U.S. due to a lung-related illness linked to vaping. Several of those fatal cases "involved a middle-aged or older person," per the Washington Post. The number of 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders using e-cigarettes has doubled in the past 2 years, according to new data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Go deeper: The global anti-vaping tipping point

Disclaimer: JUUL is an advertiser with Axios. Read how our founders explained Axios' advertising policy in a Reddit AMA.

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CBS, WarnerMedia and Viacom will no longer run e-cigarette advertising

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