Tobacco giant under spotlight as it markets new nicotine products

Smoking cigarettes may be dying out, but tobacco giant British American Tobacco (BAT) has launched a £1bn push that harnesses the power of social media influencers, celebrities, sports stars and sporting events to market a new generation of nicotine products such as nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes.

The details

• BAT says it is marketing its nicotine products at current adult smokers to help them choose less harmful alternatives to tobacco under the slogan “A Better Tomorrow”.
• Critics point to a company presentation to investors which they say show the products are aimed at new users. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism highlights TikTok videos showing attractive young people promoting the company’s nicotine pouches.
  
• By 2023, the company forecasts it will be targeting 500 million nicotine users globally who will have £100bn a year to spend. New products rather than traditional cigarettes are thought to be driving a lot of that growth.
• The company’s latest financial results revealed “non-combustible” products had begun adding to earnings for the first time, The Guardian notes. The number of consumers using them was up by 3 million to 13.5 million, as the pandemic encouraged many smokers to move away from tobacco products to more lung-friendly ways to get a nicotine hit.

Soundbite

“The tobacco industry is too well resourced for things to be a coincidence. They are not accidentally placing shiny adverts on a platform that have a vast percentage of its users as Gen Z or young millennials” – Taylor Billings, of Corporate Accountability

Sourced from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, The Guardian