Sports, Gigs, and TikToks: Multichannel Advertising of Oral Nicotine Pouches

Implications

This commentary highlights the aggressive advertising strategies being used to market oral nicotine pouches, including through online media, motorsport sponsorships, and out-of-home adverts. We underscore the need for balanced policy measures that maintain access to reduced harm alternatives for existing tobacco and nicotine users while minimizing exposure to youth and nonusers.

Background

Oral nicotine pouches are increasingly marketed and sold globally.¹ The global nicotine pouch market was valued at $2.04 billion in 2023 and is projected to increase.² These pouches likely contain fewer harmful constituents than other tobacco and nicotine products because they are noncombustible, do not contain tobacco leaf, and unlike e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, do not use heating or inhalation methods that deliver potentially harmful chemicals to the lungs.³ Nicotine pouches likely have similar or lower health impacts compared to snus—a smokeless tobacco product which is substantially less harmful than combustible cigarettes.⁴ Nonetheless, they still deliver high levels of nicotine, which can lead to dependence.³ As such, their use should be discouraged among youth and individuals who would otherwise avoid nicotine entirely.⁵

To determine the overall public health impact of nicotine pouches, one must consider the extent to which current nicotine and tobacco users completely switch to nicotine pouches, the potential for former nicotine and tobacco users to relapse and take up nicotine pouches, and the likelihood of nicotine naïve individuals experimenting with nicotine pouches and subsequently transitioning to more harmful products.⁶ Assessing the net effect on public health requires a comprehensive analysis of these concurrent trends, the relative scale of each, as well as the absolute and relative risks of nicotine pouches compared to other nicotine and tobacco products. Positive public health outcomes may occur if nicotine pouches serve as a harm reduction tool that encourages people who use cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or heated tobacco products to switch completely. However, negative impacts could emerge if marketing strategies, particularly those targeting youth-accessible channels, attract young people and those who would otherwise be nicotine naïve.^7–9

In the United Kingdom and many European Union (EU) countries, nicotine pouches fall outside the scope of tobacco or e-cigarette regulations and are only subject to general consumer product safety regulations.¹⁰ This regulatory gap allows manufacturers to market their products on various channels, mirroring those historically employed by the e-cigarette and tobacco industry.¹¹ Given the evidence that exposure to tobacco-related marketing can impact tobacco-related behaviors,^7–9 this lack of regulation raises the question: How are nicotine pouch manufacturers advertising and marketing their products under the current regulatory framework? To address this, we explore three key channels—online media, sports sponsorships, and out-of-home advertising. We use images collected by authors in Great Britain between 2021 and 2023 and data derived from a snowball sampling procedure of corporate nicotine-pouch accounts on Instagram and related hashtags on TikTok, conducted in October 2023¹² (data and illustrative examples available at https://osf.io/27cen/).

Online Marketing

Online marketing of nicotine products can emerge from corporations that directly advertise their products on websites, social media platforms, or by sponsoring online influencers. It can also arise from regular social media users who are not paid, but who generate content about products that may unintentionally promote and normalize use.¹³ Both VELO (manufactured by British American Tobacco; BAT) and Nordic Spirit (by Japan Tobacco International; JTI) use corporate media strategies by actively promoting their products through their respective Instagram accounts.^13,14 Our scan, conducted in October 2023, revealed that VELO operates 17 official Instagram accounts across countries both within and outside the EU, with @velo.pakistan and @velo.global being the most followed accounts, with 50 500 and 40 500 followers, respectively. In addition, VELO has a significant presence on YouTube through its “Velo Sound Station” channel in Pakistan, which features live studio-recorded music performances. As of May 2024, this channel had over 1 million subscribers, allowing VELO to associate its brand with popular music and culture and potentially reach a large audience of youth.¹⁵ These accounts predominately display visually appealing images of nicotine pouches and young adults, often integrated with lifestyle appeals such as travel, sports, and music (see Figure 1. in the online repository for illustrative examples).

In addition to visual advertising, these corporate accounts host competitions that offer Instagram users the chance to win holidays, tech gadgets, and event vouchers in exchange for engagement activities such as liking or sharing their posts, following their accounts, and tagging friends in posts. Although these accounts implement age verification and nicotine addiction warnings, they still engage in paid partnerships with influencers who have thousands to millions of followers and are not age-restricted.⁵ These online approaches, including coupons, discounts, and giveaways, resemble strategies previously documented for e-cigarette marketing,¹⁶ which increased the product’s reach¹⁵ and appeal among young people.¹⁷

TikTok, with its substantial young user base, serves as another social media platform for nicotine pouch marketing. As of October 11, 2023, #zyn had 459.4 million views, followed by #nicotinepouches at 83.8 million views. Videos under these hashtags feature themes of nicotine addiction, celebrity sightings (eg famous sports players spotted with nicotine pouches), product reviews and comedy skits. Similar to vaping-related content on TikTok,¹⁸ most videos portray nicotine pouch use positively and are available without age verification or content warnings. Exposure to such content on social media is associated with increased odds of tobacco use among never users, particularly among adolescents and young adults.⁹ This suggests that the widespread availability of nicotine pouch-related content on social media, without adequate age restrictions or warnings, may contribute to increased nicotine pouch use among young people. Furthermore, nicotine pouch advertisements also extend to web-based online platforms, including newspaper websites, International Association Football Federation (FIFA) video game community platforms, and crossword puzzle websites (see Figure 2 in online repository), further expanding the reach of these marketing efforts.

Sport Sponsorship

Tobacco industry sponsorship of sports teams, events, or individual athletes, most notably Philip Morris’s Marlboro sponsorship of Formula One racing (F1), began in 1968.¹⁹ Although the 2005 EU Tobacco Advertising Directive²⁰ and the 2006 Federation International Automobile banned tobacco advertising in F1, Phillip Morris adapted its marketing strategies, transitioning from explicit branding to subtle, suggestive designs (see Figure 3 in online repository). These designs mimicked the appearance of the distinctive red and white Marlboro logo, serving as a form of “alibi” marketing.¹⁹ Though the barcode design was phased out in May 2010, alibi marketing continues in the industry.

BAT’s VELO has adopted a similar strategy by sponsoring the McLaren F1 team and featuring its trademark on team apparel and vehicles.^21,22 In the Netherlands, where nicotine pouch sales are prohibited and health organizations advocate for removing such branding, “VELO” is reworded to “LOVE” on the McLaren vehicles.²² Like social media marketing, these sports sponsorships gain extensive global reach as races are broadcast worldwide, including on digital platforms.¹¹ For example, the popular Netflix series “Drive to Survive” provides behind-the-scenes access to F1 teams and drivers, attracting a wide global audience. Consequently, VELO’s sponsorship of the McLaren F1 team gains exposure through digital streams and the show’s international viewership. Experimental studies have demonstrated that exposure to e-cigarette product placement in popular media can increase young adults’ intentions to try these products and their susceptibility to peer influence, even among never-users.⁸ Such findings suggest that the extensive reach of sports sponsorships and their presence in popular media may influence attitudes and susceptibility towards using nicotine pouches. This further blur regulatory jurisdictions and makes it challenging to enforce domestic marketing laws, even for countries with strict advertising policies.⁵

Beyond motorsports, professional e-sports and football players have been increasingly seen using these products, often citing leisure, relaxation, and their perceived performance-enhancing effects as reasons for their use.^23,24 In the United States, similar patterns are observed with smokeless tobacco products long entrenched within baseball culture.²⁵

Out-of-Home Marketing

Out-of-home marketing refers to any promotional materials or activities that target consumers in public spaces, such as billboards, posters, transit advertisements, point-of-sale displays, and pop-up stalls at music festivals or other events.²⁶ Public spaces in the United Kingdom have become key advertising avenues for nicotine pouches, as evidenced by billboards placed in high-traffic areas, such as near convenience stores and busy train stations (Figure 1). Events attended by youth and young adults are also targeted; both Nordic Spirit and VELO set up pop-up stalls at major music festivals and distribute free samples.²⁷ At the point-of-sale, nicotine pouches are often displayed alongside candies and snacks, clearly visible to youth.

Figure 1.

Out-of-home marketing of nicotine pouches in the United Kingdom from 2021 to 2023, showcasing (1) nicotine pouches displayed alongside vaping products and everyday consumer goods such as candies and snacks; (2) a billboard near a pharmacy promoting the traveler-friendly appeal of nicotine pouches; (3) VELO’s branding on escalator handrails at the Oxford Circus transport hub, asking onlookers to search their product, explaining how to use their product and handing out free samples to people who self-identified as being a nicotine user; (4) Nordic Spirit’s interactive Rock Hero setup designed to attract festival-goers, and (5) Nordic Spirit’s music festival van. All images, except one, were collected by the authors (HT-B and TS) in Great Britain between 2021 and 2023. Image 1 was provided by Associate Professor Gary Chan and used with permission.

Conclusions

Nicotine pouch manufacturers are employing a wide range of marketing strategies across multiple channels, including online media, sports sponsorships, and out-of-home advertising in Great Britain and other global markets, such as Pakistan, where their use has been increasing.²⁸ Many of these advertising strategies closely resemble those historically used by the industry to promote other nicotine and tobacco products like e-cigarettes.^7,8,15–17 Despite industry claims of targeting only adult smokers, the evidence indicates a broader appeal to nonsmokers and younger individuals, potentially leading to new nicotine dependencies. This highlights the ongoing challenge of regulating marketing tactics that evolve to exploit legal and regulatory loopholes, particularly in online spaces.

While these marketing efforts are widespread, the impact of nicotine pouch marketing on public health in Great Britain has been neither significantly positive nor negative thus far given how few people use them. Data from a large nationally representative survey of adults (aged 18 years and over) in Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales), shows that nicotine pouch use remains rare, with only one in every 400 adults (0.25%) reporting their use in October 2020.²⁹ By August 2023, the prevalence had increased to an estimated one in every 300 adults (0.33%), representing a modest but non-significant rise in use (p = .077; Figure S1). Most users are either current or former smokers (86%) and around two-thirds (68%) are men. While these data suggest that nicotine pouches are currently primarily attracting individuals who already use or have used other tobacco products, should the multichannel marketing efforts described above start to bear more fruit, a noticeable shift in their impact could occur, as has been observed with other novel nicotine and tobacco products in the past.^15,17

Continuous monitoring of marketing strategies and their impact on use, particularly among young people, is needed to ensure that nicotine pouches do not lead to nicotine addiction among those who are otherwise nicotine naïve. Given the reduced harm potential of nicotine pouches compared to other tobacco products, the uncertainty around their net impact on public health, and the widespread marketing practices, a balanced regulatory approach should be implemented. This approach should prioritize the protection of young people while still maintaining access to reduced harm alternatives, in combination with appropriate cessation counseling and support, for existing users of risky tobacco and nicotine products.³

This could include bans on youth-oriented advertising, sponsorships, mandatory age verification systems both online and in retail settings,¹³ and mass-media education campaigns aimed at preventing nicotine pouch use among youth. Furthermore, there is a growing global consensus that social media companies should be held accountable for the content shared on their platforms and the potential harm it may cause to vulnerable populations.⁵ As such, global efforts should be made to ensure that these companies implement measures such as robust age verification systems, content warning labels, and algorithms that limit the exposure of nicotine pouch-related content to underage users. Governments could impose penalties on social media companies failing to safeguard youth. Clear information about the absolute and relative risks of nicotine pouches should be communicated and further research into the long-term health effects of nicotine pouch use is also necessary to fully understand their public health implications.

Funding

TS is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants (2023/MRF2031246 and 2023/GNT2029808). HTB’s salary is funded by Cancer Research United Kingdom (PRCRPG-Nov21\100002). The authors have no links, financial or otherwise, to manufacturers of tobacco or nicotine products.

Declaration of Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author contributions

Tianze Sun (Conceptualization [equal], Data curation [equal], Formal analysis [equal], Investigation [equal], Methodology [equal], Writing—original draft [lead], Writing—review & editing [equal]), and Harry Tattan-Birch (Conceptualization [equal], Data curation [Equal], Formal analysis [equal], Investigation [equal], Methodology [equal], Writing—original draft [supporting], Writing—review & editing [equal])

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from an online repository: https://osf.io/27cen/