Four months was all it took.

I was only fifteen, but I will never forget how quickly someone can deteriorate. Lung cancer tore through my grandad, emaciating him and reducing his stride to a shuffle. His breathing became labored, and even his ebullient voice had transformed into a whisper.

He was my first grandparent to die, and I think losing him at the hand of a vicious disease meant I saw how harmful smoking is. I guess it left an indelible mark on me, and it helped me resist when the cool kids in school took up the habit. Later still, when most college friends smoked, I abstained, my memory still fresh with the pain and regret etched on my grandad’s face.

. . .

Smoking kills

Unfortunately, I’m not the only one who lost a loved one to smoking. Considering one in two long-term smokers die from tobacco-related diseases, it’s no surprise tobacco use is the primary cause of preventable illness, disability, and death in the United States.

When you’re talking about the tobacco industry, you’ve got to think big numbers. Tobacco kills over 480,000 people per year in the US alone. Incidentally, that’s higher than the number of people dying of suicides, murders, alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, and AIDS combined.

Deaths aren’t the only big numbers in the tobacco industry

Indeed they’re not. Let’s for a moment consider the daily marketing budget of the US tobacco industry: $22.5 million each day, adding up to a cool
$8.2 billion annually.

How does Big Tobacco sell death?

Since the habit kills more than 8 million worldwide every year, the industry has to attract a constant stream of new (read: young) consumers to keep their industry viable. But, as Fritz Gahagan, ex-marketing consultant for five tobacco companies, pondered:

You might remember the iconic Marlboro man, launched to promote filtered cigarettes, or Philip Morris sponsoring Formula One drivers Ayrton Senna and Mika Häkkinen.

But in the 70s, many countries, including the US, introduced laws against marketing tobacco to youths and banned cigarette ads on mainstream media. For years tobacco companies battled new restrictions with expensive lobbying campaigns.

And then came the Internet, and with it, a whole new host of opportunities opened up to target the youth market.

Big Tobacco’s new ways to hook youth

Online, Big Tobacco could bypass strict advertising bans, and it did so with gusto. Their million-dollar budgets allowed them to pay social media influencers handsomely to promote traditional cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes — 15 000 unique flavors from mint to cotton candy — vapes, and nicotine pouches (called Lyft or Velo). With demand for traditional cigarettes falling, experts fear Tobacco companies have invested in creating ‘next-generation products to hook new users.

Dr. Ruediger Krech, Director of the health promotion department at the WHO, explains:

These products might look innocent, but they have high nicotine levels — the same as a whole pack of cigarettes — enough to addict kids rapidly.

And along with shiny new products come new ways of targeting young users. Although one could argue they are based on the same tactics Big Tobacco employed before: like with the Marlboro man, they present their products as cool and aspirational. And what better way to do this than to use social media influencers, sports events, and concerts?

Exposed: British American Tabacco’s (BAT) tactics

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism report reveals that BAT launched a £1bn campaign to do just that. It shows their tactics:

• They sponsor music and sporting events, such as the Spanish tour of local boyband Dvicio.
• They run international sample offers for nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes, like in Pakistan (a key trial market for Velo), where young brand reps give free samples at shopping malls, parties, and restaurants.
• They pay social media influencers to promote e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and tobacco on Instagram, despite the platform’s ban in 2019.

BAT has informed global lawmakers that its new products, including heated tobacco and oral nicotine, are for current adult smokers to move away from traditional cigarettes.

However, Taylor Billings, associate media director of the campaign group Corporate Accountability, said the influencer posts proved BAT targeted a young audience.

Influencers still promote nicotine products despite the ban

In May 2019, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat ignored the request by over a hundred health organizations to end the promotion of cigarettes and e-cigarettes by social media influencers.

After the UK Advertising Standards Authority ruled against BAT and three other companies for promoting products on Instagram, Facebook and Instagram implemented new rules to stop influencers from promoting tobacco-related products.

While there has been a reduction in vape and tobacco content, the ban is tricky to enforce when influencers post glamorous images of vape products with hashtags such as #idareyoutotryit instead of saying: “paid promotion of British American Tobacco.”

TikTok: vaping videos viewed by millions

Also, TikTok didn’t get the memo. Influencers tag videos with popular vape and e-cigarette brands, and they rack up hundreds of millions of views. Take the hashtag Juul (a leading vape brand in which Marlboro maker Altria has invested 12.8 billion). It has 623.9 million views on TikTok and counting.

Considering the platform’s young demographic — only last year the New York Times reported that a third of its 100 million US users might be 14 or younger — these trends are worrying. Particularly so when one in 5 high schoolers use e-cigarettes.

Studies have found kids are three times as sensitive to tobacco advertising than adults, and a third of youth experimentation with smoking can be ascribed to tobacco advertising. So being open and non-judgemental about the habit with your child might be the best way to help prevent her from smoking or vaping.

Tips for parents: how can you talk to your kids about smoking and vaping?

If you are a concerned parent of a tween or teen, what can you do to prevent your child from experimenting? Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, MD at Nemours, outlines the following tips:

• Talk openly and honestly and let your child know there is no judgment or punishment.
• Even when children are young, it’s good to talk about the dangers of tobacco products- age-appropriately.
• Talk about how your kids can respond to peer pressure. Give them different responses to elaborate if they don’t just want to say no. For instance, “It will make my breath smell bad”.
• Work on your child’s self-confidence: it’s the best protection against peer pressure.
• Discuss and show how tobacco companies use influencers to target young people.

Conclusion

Smoking is a deadly habit. And because it kills more than 8 million a year globally, Big Tobacco needs a constant supply of new, youthful users. But how do they sell death?

In a dwindling market, tobacco companies have come up with new products to attract young consumers. Think flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches like Lyft. And, according to a report, they’re selling them using social media influencers, sports events, and concerts.

Considering one in five high schoolers take up vaping, and a third of underage experimentation with smoking can be ascribed to tobacco advertising, being open with your child on tobacco and vaping might help prevent her from taking up the deadly habit.

So let’s keep our children out of Big Tobacco’s hungry claws and help save any more people the horrific pain my grandad endured.

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This post was previously published on A Parent Is Born.

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