Advertising and marketing for e-cigarettes entices smokers to smoke more and could spur former smokers to start smoking again, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication.

Researchers say marketing and ads ignite cravings for tobacco and that's not a good thing given e-cigarettes are viewed as both a healthier tobacco alternative and potential tool for reducing or quitting smoking completely. The fact e-cigarette marketing ignites a craving in ex-smokers is just as worrisome, say researchers.

"We know that exposure to smoking cues such as visual depictions of cigarettes, ashtrays, matches, lighters, and smoke heightens smokers' urge to smoke a cigarette, and decreases former smokers' confidence in their ability to refrain from smoking a cigarette," states Dr. Erin K. Maloney, Ph.D., one of the researchers and study authors.

"Because many e-cigarette brands that have a budget to advertise on television are visually similar to tobacco cigarettes, we wanted to see if similar effects can be attributed to e-cigarette advertising," she states in an announcement on the study.

The news comes decades after cigarettes advertising was banned from television and at a time when e-cigarette use is booming, especially among teenagers. According to the study's announcement e-cigarette ad spending will be more than $1 billion this year, with a growth rate of 50 percent rate over the next four years. The study was published in the journal Health Communication.

The study involved more than 800 former, daily and social intermittent smokers. The participants viewed e-cigarette ads and then took a survey related to urge to smoke, behavior and intentions.

The research revealed that daily smokers, after seeing an ad in which someone was holding or inhaling an e-cigarette had a stronger urge to smoke, and smoked during the study period, than smokers who did not watch the advertising. Ex-smokers who watched the ads stated they felt less confident about their urge not to smoke than former smokers who watched the advertising.

"Given the sophistication of cigarette marketing in the past and the exponential increase in advertising dollars allotted to e-cigarette promotion in the past year, it should be expected that advertisements for these products created by big tobacco companies will maximize smoking cues in their advertisements, and if not regulated, individuals will be exposed to much more e-cigarette advertising on a daily basis," states the study.