Big Tobacco's profit addiction needs a quit plan

Mail & Guardian

a day ago

New legislation seeks to stop tobacco companies from luring non-smoking teens into becoming addicted to their deadly products.
Every year on 31 May, the World Health Organisation hosts
Because tobacco
Leveraging loopholes to lure youth
Until the early 2000s, South African media was saturated with tobacco ads in magazines, on billboards and radio, and in cinemas. Many will recall Peter Stuyvesant's iconic
Today, the industry
The tobacco industry claims these set-ups only serve to allow them to vie for market share among existing adult smokers but evidence shows these displays also lure young people. A
The Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, which is being debated in parliament, aims to ban point-of-sale advertising, closing this loophole in the regulatory framework. Global evidence shows that point-of-sale display bans reduce youth smoking
Predictably, Big Tobacco is
Vaping's surge among youth: Big tobacco's unregulated playbook
As a global wave of tobacco-control legislation and excise-tax increases has stifled the industry's ability to expand tobacco sales, companies have pivoted to novel products like e-cigarettes to secure their future revenues. Since 2010, giants like British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Brands have
.
In South Africa, Vuse — made by British American Tobacco, producer of the nation's top-selling Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes — stands out with pop-up stalls and concept stores in shopping malls across the country, signalling Big Tobacco's bold entry into vaping.
E-cigarettes commonly deliver nicotine, a highly addictive and harmful
In South Africa, e-cigarettes are currently unregulated, enabling Big Tobacco and independent vape companies to populate shopping malls with attractive kiosks and flood youth-heavy platforms like TikTok and Instagram with influencer-driven ads and sponsored content.
In the current regulatory vacuum, vape marketing has thrived unchecked,
The regulatory free-for-all in South Africa has fuelled alarming vaping trends among South African teens. A
Among those who use e-cigarettes, 88% puff on vapes that contain nicotine and 47% vape within an hour of waking — a clear marker of addiction. The study estimates 60% of teen vapers are addicted to their vapes, reflecting an extent of use and dependence on nicotine that researchers have never encountered with traditional cigarettes in the past.
The Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill aims to regulate e-cigarettes and other novel products like traditional tobacco by, among other things, banning direct advertising, including at the point of sale.
Big Tobacco and their front groups claim these products aid smoking cessation among adults wishing to quit tobacco and that advertising bans harm public health by limiting awareness of 'safer' alternatives. Yet the World Health Organisation indicates that
On World No Tobacco Day 2025, the urgent need to protect South Africa's young people from exploitative marketing tactics takes centre stage. The Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill rises to this challenge, aiming to regulate vaping, and close loopholes that enable youth-targeted marketing of more traditional tobacco products.
The Bill is more than regulation: it demands that Big Tobacco and its affiliates end their predatory marketing aimed at young people and protects South Africa's youth from deceptive tactics which drive lifelong addiction and
Sam Filby is a research officer at the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP) at the University of Cape Town and Corné van Walbeek is a professor in economics at UCT and the director of REEP.