In the second episode of #GFN25 Voices, we've invited this year's in-person conference attendees to share their thoughts on the best ways to fix misperceptions about THR!
Transcription:
00:09 - 00:12
[Brent Stafford]
Can I just quickly ask you what you think of GFN this year?
00:12 - 00:25
[Libby Clarke]
I think it's been a fabulous meeting. Lots of different types of people. I think it's great that we're getting more from the healthcare profession as well. And I think the quality of the discussion and debate has been great.
00:26 - 00:33
[Brent Stafford]
Now, the strapline is misperceptions and effective communication for THR. How do you effectively communicate THR?
00:34 - 00:55
[Libby Clarke]
I think it's really important to be transparent. It's important to take the message to a broad range of different channels. I think it's important to get more people involved in the communication. I think for everybody to be speaking about the data that they found, the impact that's having, the benefit that can have potentially for people who smoke.
00:55 - 00:57
[Brent Stafford]
What's the biggest hurdle to get over?
00:57 - 01:16
[Libby Clarke]
The hurdles exist in several areas. I think there's the myths and misperceptions that consumers are faced with, which can make it very difficult for them to make an informed choice about moving to a potentially reduced cost product. And I think the regulatory barriers can also be very challenging.
01:16 - 01:18
[Brent Stafford]
What do you think of GFN this year?
01:18 - 01:44
[David Zaruk]
What do I think of GFN? Wow. It's an interesting mix of people. What I would love to see for the next GFN, I was thinking, because every vaper has a story to tell. And part of the story is that their health has improved so much. Why don't you organize a 10K run for vapers? Because they'll say how much better and how fit they are. And maybe instead of a water break, have a vaping station along the way, just to let people know how safe and how healthy it is.
01:44 - 01:55
[Madeline Sibley]
I think it's been great. It's my first year here, but it's been fantastic. Lots of new things learned, same issues, but different takes on it. So I found it really, really beneficial.
01:55 - 01:56
[Brent Stafford]
Why did you come?
01:56 - 02:13
[Madeline Sibley]
So I work for an e-cigarette company, and my company has come in years before. But basically to meet people, to discuss these topics, to learn more, particularly I found the media sessions really interesting. I've just left the who else should be in the room session. So yeah, it's been great.
02:13 - 02:24
[Brent Stafford]
Well, so that brings me to my last question for you, and that's the strapline for this week is challenging perceptions. How do you effectively communicate THR?
02:24 - 02:53
[Madeline Sibley]
Yeah, I mean, I think it's a really, really tricky issue. There is a lot of misinformation out there, and I think You need a holistic approach, right? You need to convince people, whether it's policymakers, you know, regulators, but most importantly, smokers, about the, you know, the harm reduction potential of these products. And I think that we need to remain focused, you know, on that main cohort of people so that they're willing to sort of, you know, attempt to switch and try different products on their journey away from cigarettes.
02:53 - 02:54
[Brent Stafford]
What do you think of GFN this year?
02:56 - 03:34
[Maria Medina Garcia]
I think that there is new conversations that the debate in so many places changes a lot because the regulation it's like sometimes like ban it or sometimes it's like regulating as tobacco so we are really like actually understanding what is happening and we are like getting to the co-op too what is happening there so I think that GFN like really like keep us new conversation, keep us like actually information to debate in that kind of spaces.
03:34 - 03:37
[Brent Stafford]
How do you effectively communicate THR?
03:39 - 04:27
[Asa Saligupta]
Personally, I try to give truthful knowledge as much as possible. And I learned a lot, especially from this year, you know, like there's really good speakers out this year in particular. And we kind of like, I think this year is more consumer focused and also some anti-THR that come out with a lot of misinformation. I think that that's, you know, like we have more ways to fight and to talk and say like you know we're not gonna fight them per se but you know we have like they come out with misinformation this is how we're gonna do this is how we're gonna react against them you know with with information like we could refer to your channel for example