By Winlight Harrison
There’s a new look to addiction, and it’s wrapped in bright colours, slick devices, and influencer endorsements. The tobacco industry has figured out one thing: if you can’t sell the fire and product, sell the lifestyle.
The tobacco industry often claims that emerging nicotine products such as electronic cigarettes (also popularly known as vapes), nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products (HTPs) are tools for harm reduction and are less harmful, intended to help smokers quit traditional cigarettes. But let’s be honest, this is the same old industry wearing a new mask. The tobacco industry still sells hundreds of billions of cigaretteseach year globally. These so-called “reduced harm” products are part of a calculated rebranding strategy one that helps the industry appear “health-conscious” while continuing to profit from addiction.
According to a report by Stopping Tobacco Organisations and Products (STOP, a global tobacco industry watchdog ),HTPs, for example, being sold as “smoke-free” or “reduced risk.” show that HTPs still emit toxic chemicals like carbon monoxide and carcinogens. Some users have developed rare lung diseases and experience elevated blood pressure, refuting the “reduced risk” marketing claims.
Their narrative collapses under scrutiny when we see a growing number of young people many of whom have never smoked being introduced to nicotine through these very products. Far from aiding cessation, these products are marketed in ways that deliberately appeal to the youth demographic. Sleek designs, sweet flavours, and aggressive digital advertising aren’t accidental; they are calculated tools to attract a new generation. Data from the Data on Youth and Tobacco in Africa (DaYTAproject reveals a worrying rise in the use of tobacco and nicotine products among adolescents aged 10–17 in Kenya, Nigeria, and the DRC, highlighting how these tactics are working. For instance, in Kenya, 23% of youth reported seeing tobacco promotions in or around schools, a clear indication of how these products are being aggressively and strategically marketed to children.
Research shows that rather than reducing harm, these products often serve as a gateway, increasing the likelihood that users, especially adolescents and young adults, will transition to combustible tobacco use.This trend undermines the very premise of harm reduction and suggests that the industry’s primary goal is not to help people quit, but to hook a new generation on nicotine and secure lifelong customers.
Marketing to the Vulnerable
From vapes to nicotine pouches to heated tobacco products (HTPs), the strategy is painfully clear: make tobacco products look cool enough, and the youth will come. And they are with increased uptake. In Kenya, the rise in alternative tobacco products like e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches is alarming. A 2024 NACADA reportreveals that 1 in every 5 university students (20.4%) had ever used at least one type of tobacco product in their lifetime, with many drawn in by appealing flavours, sleek designs, social media, peers, and entertainment culture. This rise is not driven by informed choices but by a system designed to manipulate.
It’s not subtle, from influencer partnerships, social media trends, free product samples at concerts, and memes on social media that speak “Gen Z’s” language, the tobacco industry is immersing itself in youth culture. Products are colourful, slim, discreet, and sleek, even designed to fit into a teenager’s lifestyle. All of them are designed to be shared, flaunted, and normalized. None of this is accidental. The industry is playing on one thing: the need to look trendy, and fit in. They’ve studied how young people think, speak, and behave, and they’re using it to sell addiction disguised as fun.
This World No Tobacco Day, we join the global call to “Unmask the Appeal”, the 2025 theme that challenges us to dig deeper into the shiny packaging and trendy language used to sell addiction. Behind the memes, influencer partnerships, and sleek devices is an industry banking on one thing: that young people won’t ask questions. This year’s theme is a wake-up call, urging governments, communities, and especially youth to recognize the manipulation at play. It’s about exposing the tactics used to disguise harm as harmless fun, and about shifting the conversation from normalization to awareness. The goal? To empower individuals with truth, encourage policy change, and remind everyone that no level of nicotine addiction should be seen as fashionable or inevitable.
Why the Government Must Step Up Its Efforts Now
We are losing a generation slowly and unknowingly. Tobacco and emerging nicotine products have been made “cool,” and in this rebranded war, knowledge is the only weapon we have. It’s not just about regulating products but also protecting minds and saving lives.
The Ministry of Health must treat this as the public health emergency that it is. The marketing of nicotine products to youth is deliberate and dangerous, and policies must reflect the urgency of this threat. We cannot let products sneak into schools and universities, trends on TikTok, and dominate urban youth culture unchecked.
The Ministry of Health’s initiatives, such as the gazetting of graphic health warnings, are steps in the right direction. However, we need increased youth-focused education that makes it uncool to be used by companies who profit from addiction. If we wait, we risk watching nicotine become ‘cooler’than caution.In addition, the government must prioritize and expedite the amendment of the Tobacco Control Act (TCA), 2007, to ensure it adequately addresses new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products. This amendment should be safeguarded from industry interference to protect public health.
These products are not lifestyle enhancers; they are just chemical hooks. No amount of colour, clout, or cool can change that. Young people deserve to know the truth; no one tells you that what you’re feeling is not a harmless high but the onset of addiction. No one tells you that while you’re trying to fit in, you’re being profiled as a lifetime customer.
But here’s what every young person needs to hear:
- You are not missing out by saying no to nicotine pouches and vapes
- You don’t need a pouch or a puff to be happy, cool, or confident.
- Your life is worth more than someone else’s profit margin
- You are being marketed to, not cared for.
You are being targeted. You are being used. The tobacco industry isn’t innovating for your health; it’s reinventing its hustle. Emerging nicotine products are not harm-free; they’re just the latest way to keep you hooked. Yes, you canquit nicotine and no, you don’t need to replace one addiction with another. We can’t afford to be passive anymore. If the industry won’t stop selling the lie, then we will keep telling the truth louder, bolder, and unapologetically. Join our call to protect young people, hold the tobacco industry accountable, and push for stronger regulations on all tobacco and emerging nicotine products. If you’re looking for support to quit, please reach out to NACADA’s toll-free helpline at 1192. This is a good first step toward reclaiming your health and your future.
By Winlight Harrison – Communications Assistant, at the International Institute for Legislative Affairs (IILA)
