Globally an estimated 37 million children aged 13-15 years use tobacco and the use of electronic products is more prevalent among young people as compared to the younger generation. Lifetime tobacco users get hooked before the age of 21 years. To catch the younger generation into the trap, companies are rapidly coming up with new products that hit the market at a large scale before getting noticed by the regulatory authorities. The product range has expanded from cigarettes, cigarillos, and shisha to e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products. To make the products more appealing and addictive to the young ones, companies are coming up with new flavors, sleek designs, and child-friendly packaging, selling near schools and displaying them at eye level with snacks or sweets. To distract the consumers, the industry is fooling around the youth with tactics of positioning nicotine as safer as compared to cigarettes even though nicotine is itself addictive and harmful, especially to children and youth.

With the penetration of digitization into children’s and youth’s lives, it has become easy for the nicotine and tobacco industry to market these products through social media, gaming platforms, and streaming services with the involvement of influencers and celebrities, offering these products at low prices and buy one and get one free options, sponsoring youth festivals to enter a wide market and expand their horizon of trapping the children and youth into addiction. This industry is playing at the forefront by portraying itself to be involved in corporate social responsibilities and creating a positive perception.

With more complexities in regulating advertising on digital platforms, even the countries where the advertising is banned have shown more uptake of nicotine products due to more exposure of these advertisements via digital platforms.

It is surprising to know that e-cigarettes are available in 16,000 different flavors and the flavors keep youth hooked. The designs are formulated so that e-cigarettes can be kept hidden by integrating them in the hoodie, giving it the shape of lipstick or a watch, etc.

A study revealed that the use of one social media platform daily increases the risk of e-cigarette usage by 3.8% among middle-aged students and 6.1% among high school students.

The Nicotine and Tobacco industry is using marketing strategies for brand recognition, and brand popularity through CSR activities, sponsoring education, and sponsoring offline and online festivals and events to reach a wider audience and create a positive image of their brand. They use several sales tactics of offering products at cheaper prices and offering free samples.

With misleading messages, the industry is trying to mislead the policymakers Some of such messages are:

  • We are sustainable
  • We are reducing the harms caused by Cigarettes
  • Creating smoke – free future
  • Adult smokers who want to quit cigarettes can use e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products

These industries are funded and disseminating pseudoscience and discrediting the scientific findings on the harms caused by tobacco. This all is being done to distract the policy makers and the regulations on their products are avoided. Effective implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control IS is the only way forward to curb this growing public health challenge before it takes up the entire youth under its trap.

Source: WHO