Preventing Our Youth From Becoming Addicted to the Newest Nicotine Products: U.S. and Global Trends

The tobacco and nicotine industry continues to push out new nicotine products and a new generation of young people are becoming highly addicted. Nicotine is becoming known as “Nic” and is being discussed in social media as though it were Vitamin N. In this session, we’ll explore why youth in the U.S. and around the world are increasingly becoming addicted to the industry’s newest nicotine products.

We’ll examine the rapid surge in the U.S. of youth using of oral nicotine pouches (ONPs) like ZYN, and we’ll look at why Sweden is facing a rapidly increasing epidemic of youth and young adult ONP use, where prevalence rates of daily pouch use among 16-29-year-olds have risen to over 20% for boys/men and 17% among girls/women. We’ll also look at the industry’s marketing of their new heated tobacco products (HTPs) like IOQS in the U.S., and we’ll examine how the industry has successfully marketed HTPs in over 95 global markets, particularly in Japan where over 50% of all tobacco products sold are now HTPs.

By looking at how the tobacco and nicotine industry is marketing their new nicotine products and understanding how these products are being perceived and normalized in the U.S. and other countries, you’ll gain critical insights into the factors that could drive rising trends of nicotine use among youth in the U.S. The session will equip you with a stronger foundation for anticipating risk, countering the industry’s narratives and tactics, and strengthening youth-focused prevention efforts to preempt, push back, and block the marketing of these new highly addictive nicotine products.