Influencer Jaxon Fairbairn recruited to curb vaping photographed with vape
Popular social media influencer Jaxon Fairbairn, who has been recruited by the federal government to help its campaign against vaping, has posts on his Instagram showing him with e-cigarettes.
A popular online personality recruited by the federal government to warn young Australians against vaping has published photos of himself reportedly with a vape.
Jaxon Fairbairn and his brother Lachlan – known as the Fairbairn brothers who have more than 1.7m subscribers on YouTube and close to 3m fans on TikTok – are some of the influencers and sporting stars who have been signed up to front Health Minister Mark Butler’s new anti-vaping campaign to warn young Australians of the dangers of the devices.
Jaxon has appeared in photographs on his personal Instagram account, which has more than 132,000 followers, nursing what appears to be an iGet vape twice.
The last image was posted online in June last year.
Lachlan said on Wednesday he and his brother were “really keen” to support the government’s anti-vaping message on their various social media platforms to help “young Australian adults” understand the risks of vaping.
Last year they produced a sketch titled “Friend that always steals your vape”.
Junior professional surfer Shyla Short will also take part in the publicly-funded health campaign.
Last year she also appeared online to be holding a vape.
Mr Butler said the Fairbairn brothers and Ms Short were just some of the influencers recruited by a “PR agency process” to combat “this very serious public health menace” and “partner with the Australian government to get those new messages out there to young Australians that this is a risk to their health,” he said.
More than $63m was allocated over the forward estimates in the last Budget for national public health campaigns to discourage people from smoking and vaping.
About $11m of that will be dedicated to a targeted youth campaign.
On Wednesday Mr Butler said this new campaign will allocate $250,000 to partnering with influencers like Jaxon Fairbairn.
“We are confident, is a very good investment by the commonwealth,” Mr Butler said.
“We’ve been keen to make sure we have a diversity of influencers. We’ve got healthy sporting identities like the Short Sisters and others in the in the sporting field. We’ve got influencers who appeal to a gaming audience. We’ve got young comedy influencers as well.”He defended the inclusion of Jaxon in the upcoming advertising blitz.
“We know that 2 out of 5 young people have vaped. A number of the young influencers have personal experience with vaping, either themselves, their friends or family members. Who better to talk about the risks of vaping than young people who have firsthand experience?” Mr Butler told The Australian.
It is understood the Department of Health has been advised Jaxon no longer vapes and he was asked about his personal connection and experiences with vaping during the vetting and contracting process.
The Australian has contacted Jaxon Fairbairn for comment.
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