Small vape operators framed big tobacco as villains to justify their own product.

Evidence

Proponents of e-cigarettes claim that their products are not only different from traditional cigarettes but also safer, because e-cigarettes do not burn tobacco, which produces carcinogens and a host of other toxins. They also allege that e-cigarettes save lives by helping conventional smokers to quit and by reducing harm in those who continue to smoke by providing them a safer alternative. The e-cigarette business was originally run by small independent operators. To expand their market, they focused on the harm caused by their big tobacco competitors. Sean Gore, the chairman of Oklahoma Vapor Advocacy League, described cigarette makers as “profiteers who don’t care about people’s health” (Richtel, 2014d). He called traditional cigarettes “cancer sticks.” — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1720

Categorization

• XREF: Demonizing a competitor as worse than oneself (‘profiteers’, ‘cancer sticks’) is advantageous comparison — a moral-disengagement step that supports the existing vault mechanism.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1720