Although the global smoking rate has fallen, almost one in five people still smoke regularly, according to a report. The industry is developing new marketing strategies.
According to data from a global analysis, the smoking rate has fallen. While 22.6 percent of people still reached for a cigarette in 2007, it was only 19.6 percent in the most recent year of the survey, 2019. as can be seen from this year’s tobacco atlas, published by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the organization Vital Strategies. “This clearly shows that tobacco control is working,” the authors write.
At the same time, they warn that tobacco consumption, with 1.1 billion smokers and another 200 million people who use other tobacco products, remains high and continues to represent a “global epidemic”. Tobacco use was responsible for 8.7 million deaths in 2019 alone. 1.3 million of these were due to passive smoking.
In addition, the progress achieved through stricter protection measures in richer countries is being threatened by the tobacco industry’s current tactics. The industry is increasingly concentrating on poorer countries with weaker regulations and, above all, on young people. In 63 of the 135 countries examined, the proportion of young tobacco users has recently increased. More than 50 million 13 to 15 year olds now use cigarettes or other tobacco products.
But the tobacco companies have not only changed their tactics in terms of sales markets, but also in terms of their marketing strategies, said co-author Nandita Murukutla at the presentation of the report that was published on Wednesday. Advertising no longer focuses so much on individual brands and products, but rather celebrates the habit of smoking as glamorous and desirable. Marketing is also more subtle, for example through product placements in films or influencers in social networks, which are more difficult to regulate.
The authors name higher tobacco taxes and all measures to close the communication channels of the industry as the most important measure against high consumption. This relates both to addressing potential and existing customers and to lobbying.