Exposing marketing tactics and strategies driving the global growth of nicotine pouches

Overview

This new report aims to help countries understand how the tobacco industry promotes nicotine pouches and how they can be effectively regulated. It highlights the public health challenges posed by nicotine pouches, including high nicotine levels, youth-appealing flavours, and heavy marketing on social media and other youth-targeted platforms.

The report reviews evidence on how major transnational tobacco companies expand markets, often co-branding nicotine pouches with cigarette brands and advertising them across social media and digital platforms. These tactics exploit regulatory loopholes and undermine laws, fueling rapid global growth. The advertisements often mirror cigarette marketing, including associating the product with good times, glamorous lifestyles, social belonging, romance, pleasure, popular music, motor sports and satisfaction. It also highlights the industry's intensive use of youth-frequented social media to advertise emerging products like nicotine pouches. As social media crosses national boundaries, it often circumvents national advertising restrictions and bans, making this a pressing regulatory issue.

The report, which was prepared by WHO with experts from Stanford University, expands on the findings of the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation and focuses on marketing and regulatory challenges specific to nicotine pouches. Its goal is to guide countries in closing regulatory gaps and developing comprehensive frameworks for emerging nicotine products.