LONDON (Reuters) – Tobacco companies continue to actively target young people through social media, sporting and music events and new flavored products, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, accusing them of trying to get a new generation addicted to nicotine.
Amid ever-tighter regulation of cigarettes, major tobacco companies and new companies have begun offering tobacco alternatives, such as “puffs,” which they say are aimed at adult smokers.
But according to the WHO, these products are often marketed to young people, with a design and variety of fruity flavors more likely to appeal to them than to adults.
The tobacco industry, for its part, says that flavors are an important tool to encourage adults to quit smoking.
Major tobacco companies have mostly refrained from using such flavors. But companies like Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco target young people by sponsoring music festivals and sporting events and using social media, according to the WHO.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, rejected the industry’s claim that it would work to reduce the harm of smoking.
“It is dishonest to talk about harm reduction when the marketing is aimed at children,” he said.
The WHO’s increasingly tough stance on new nicotine products follows a sharp increase in vaping among young people in several countries.
Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting Emma Rumney; French version Stéphanie Hamel, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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