Zerosmoke launches in national retailers, military bases

JUPITER, Fla. Zerosmoke this month launched its drug-free smoking cessation device into several retailers, including Wal-mart, CVS, Rite-Aid and Duane Reade, and Zerosmoke will be available on more than 150 Army, Navy and Marine bases starting shortly after the New Year, the company stated recently.

The Zerosmoke method of quitting smoking is based upon the principle of auricular therapy, or the stimulation of acupressure/acupuncture points in the ear. The product features two small magnets that are placed opposite each other on a determined point of the left ear. This magnetic acupressure therapy slowly eradicates a person’s desire to smoke. The magnets are plated in 24k gold in order to ensure the highest conduction properties and to eliminate allergic reactions.

Zerosmoke is also launching an extensive consumer-advertising campaign, though the company did not quantify its consumer ad budget, that will include national radio and television spots just as many smokers pledge to quit smoking with the new year. “We’re doing in-store marketing with demonstrations for [retailers] like H-E-B,” Maury Winnick, Zerosmoke national sales manager, told Drug Store News. And because the device is drug-free, Zerosmoke is also test-marketing the product against smoking high-school students—students who shouldn’t be able to purchase either tobacco products or any smoking cessation products that contain nicotine. “We found a lot of these kids will pick up and use the product to get away from that [nicotine] addiction. … We’re just starting a marketing program right now to give [Zerosmoke samples] to kids who are smoking.”

And while Zerosmoke can be used as a stand-alone therapy, the company noted, it can also be used in conjunction with other over-the-counter or prescription-drug therapies. “It can be used by people as they are using pills, patches, gum, etc., as an adjunct to those therapies” commented Bryan Frank, Zerosmoke medical consultant. “There is no contra-indication to using [Zerosmoke] as a supplement … to one of the other common therapies.”