Picture this. You own a successful company—the only problem is, the product you sell ends up killing up to two-thirds of the people who use it. That means you’ll eventually run out of customers, and that’s bad for business.
Unless, that is, you can guarantee future profits by getting a new, younger generation addicted to your products.
This scenario is real. It’s exactly what the tobacco industry does when it targets young people. Tobacco companies are intentionally trying to normalize tobacco use and promote addictive products to younger generations so they can continue making money.
Here we lay out 10 examples of how tobacco companies have covertly and deliberately designed their products and marketing messages to exploit young people’s interests and get them addicted.
1. Philip Morris International (PMI) failed to add age verification to its new tobacco stick delivery service in Ukraine.
PMI, best known as the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, teamed up with a courier service in Ukraine to offer home delivery of HEETS, the tobacco sticks used in its flagship heated tobacco product, IQOS. But, as part of a social experiment, a 16-year-old found she was able to order HEETS through the courier’s app and have them delivered to her home without needing to verify her age. This omission gives underage consumers easy access to tobacco, without even leaving their home.
2. British American Tobacco (BAT) hired young models and influencers to promote its products on social media.
BAT—the second-largest tobacco company in the world—claims to have implemented a policy to not use models or influencers under the age of 25 in its advertisements. The tobacco company, however, broke its own rule according to a report in August 2019. It was caught paying two Instagram influencers, ages 21 and 24, to promote its heated tobacco product, glo, on social media.
3. Japan Tobacco International (JTI) held live music events as part of its “Stay True, Stay Free” marketing campaign for Winston cigarettes.
Exploiting the allure of nonconformity, JTI—maker of Winston and other popular cigarettes—hosted music events featuring the hashtag #FreedomMusic, and the slogan “Stay True, Stay Free.” Attendees of the music events were bombarded by JTI through promoters, photos ops, Winston signage and cigarette products. The events were held in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines but heavy social media coverage of the events, many of which prominently feature the Winston brand, spread the message even further.
4. BAT chose strategic, youth-oriented hashtags to promote its Vype e-cigarette on social media.
If BAT chose hashtags that accurately represented the risks of e-cigarettes, it would drive young consumers away. That might be why the company used hashtags completely unrelated to tobacco, nicotine or e-cigarettes in social media postings. To insert itself into mainstream social media discussion, the company used hashtags related to youth-focused, pop culture events, including #Oscars2019, #bestactor and #londonfashionweek.
5. PMI engaged marketing tactics that have been historically used to attract youth.
PMI claims that IQOS is for adult smokers. Yet, a calculated five-year marketing campaign aligning IQOS with youth and glamour has boosted use of the heated tobacco product in Russia and Romania, researchers say. Further attempts to portray IQOS as an upscale lifestyle product, instead of the addictive tobacco product it is, include IQOS marketing and promotion at art exhibitions, malls, luxurious vacation destinations and music festivals—including a Tel Aviv University student music festival where attendees were as young as 16 years old.
