Colorful puffs, vapes with fruity aromas, snus: nicotine takes ever more attractive forms. Despite the success in 2022 of an initiative aimed at banning tobacco advertising to minors, tobacco company marketing remains very present and often targets young people. The magazine 15 Minutes sought to find out how.
“The colors are bright, the slogans use colloquialisms or English, we find themes like holidays and celebrations, these are elements that are there to make young people want to consume these products.” For Luc Lebon, head of the smoking prevention sector at Unisanté, the observation is clear: today, advertising for products such as electronic cigarettes or puffs explicitly targets a young audience.
>> Read also: World No Tobacco Day: poorly protected children in Switzerland
Noha has smoked since he was 13. He remembers his first cigarette very well: “We were at Yvonand station with friends taller than me and I tried it. It was a group effect, you’re young and you want to do like the others.” When you are young, you are more easily influenced, the tobacco industry understands this well. “Today, it is known that tobacco is very harmful, deplores Luc Lebon, but the industry tries to make us forget this by associating its products with cool aspects and making people believe that it is normal and that many people consume, although this is not the case.
>> Listen to the 15 Minutes report:
“They want to stop, but they can’t.”
Ermandina doesn’t smoke. But at 16, she has several friends who have gotten into it: “They started with puffs, but now they smoke cigarettes. Nicotine has made them addicted. Some are 16, but others are 13 .”
On social networks, there are a lot of advertisements that are not identifiable as such. This involves product placements and influencers. It’s more discreet, but also more targeted and more effective.
Clara feels sorry for some of her friends. “There are some who try to stop and they can’t. We see that it’s painful.” At 15, she was already approached at the shopping center in front of promotional stands to test heating tobacco, without being asked her age.
If there is one form of advertising that escapes regulations, it is that which circulates on social networks. It takes the form of discreet product placements, sponsorship carried out by influencers, but also fashionable challenges. On Tik Tok, the latest trends are unboxing the latest puffs and challenges where you blow and then swallow your smoke. Videos that are sometimes liked by hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
Ban, but not everywhere
In Switzerland, tobacco causes an average of 9,500 deaths per year and costs the health system 3 billion. In total, 29% of men and 23% of women smoke. This is 3 to 5% more than in other industrialized countries. Switzerland is also more permissive when it comes to tobacco advertising. It is the only European country to authorize poster campaigns at the national level. Only television and radio advertisements are prohibited.
However, several cantons, such as the canton of Vaud, have removed posters from their public spaces, with the exception of those promoting electronic cigarettes.
The “Tobacco-Free Children” initiative, accepted in 2022 by the people, aimed to ban advertisements in the press or demonstrations, but it is slow to be implemented (see box).
Radio subject: Ariane Hasler
Web adaptation: Joëlle Cachin
