The freakish backlash about vaping strikes me as a classic moral scold's game, but I do actually agree that the form factor was likely intentionally chosen to b

The freakish backlash about vaping strikes me as a classic moral scold's game, but I do actually agree that the form factor was likely intentionally chosen to be easily confused with USB sticks. The product was clearly carefully designed. A lot of money and market research went in to it, and the idea that nobody noticed the connection is not plausible. Hell, someone was likely carrying design documentation around _on a USB stick_ during the design process. And then you notice that other nicotine vape products and pot vape products mostly are not that shape... Had the ideal form been, say, easily confused with a switchblade, they would have found a way to work around that; developing a rep for getting their customers hassled/shot would be bad for business. Thinking through the real-world implications of design is what good product designers do. At best, it is marginally plausible that they noticed the connection but were indifferent, not considering the mistaken identity possibilities. But after typing that out, I have trouble buying it. It does not strike me as odd at all.