America might be broadcasting marijuana ads on national TV, but Brits will have to make do with vaping commercials for now, with the first e-cigarette advert set to premiere post-watershed this evening.

The ad is made by an e-cigarette manufacturer called VIP. Co-founder Dave Levin said in a statement: "This advert will mark the first time in almost 50 years that TV audiences see someone exhale what appears to be cigarette smoke on an advert – however, it is actually vapour from an e-cigarette that they will see. Vaping has never been shown on a TV advert in the UK before, so this is a first for the country."

A 10 second version and a 20 second version of the advert are planned for TV. Both have no shortage of target audience: it's estimated that around 2.5 million Brits vape.

Anti-smoking campaigners have already criticised the advert and the "soft" watchdog guidelines that regulate the broadcast of e-cigarette brands. Deborah Arnott from health charity Ash told the BBC that it "sexualises e-cigarette use", while Professor Martin McKee from the London School of Hygiene described it as a "very daft idea".

You can beat the TV and watch the first smoking ad in five decades below, in which a woman with black hair stares coldly into space, vape pen in hand. She looks like she's wearing a latex full-face mask. There's a quick burst of Windows start-up music at the end before the letter VIP are spoken in an "alluring" vapour-y way.

Welcome to the future.   

Read Pinar & Viola's dA-Zed guide to e-cigarettes here.