Something is haunting us this Halloween. It is sneaking into our homes, minds, and lives. It is concealing truths that harm us and others. But this Halloween, it’s not a ghost, goblin, or ghoul. It is Big Tobacco.
Large tobacco companies, collectively called “Big Tobacco,” have convinced millions of Americans to smoke since the 1920’s. Scientists determined decades ago that smoking causes lung cancer and numerous other health effects, yet Big Tobacco still hooks people on its products. 80%-90% of all lung cancer deaths are thought to be related to smoking, yet as of 2022, over 49 million American adults use tobacco products. That’s 19.8% of the United States adult population. And now, Big Tobacco wants us get addicted by vaping their nicotine products.
How does Big Tobacco trick so many people into thinking their nicotine tobacco products are a treat? It uses manipulative marketing tactics, infiltrates other industries, and misrepresents research.
Spooky Marketing
Big Tobacco spends enormous amounts of money on marketing. In 2019 alone, Big Tobacco spent $8.2 billion on marketing in the United States. The marketing practices it uses have changed overtime, but past tactics included having doctors endorse specific cigarette companies as “healthy,” paying celebrities to star in tobacco commercials, and passing out free cigarettes at cultural events and late-night venues.
Many of these marketing strategies targeted specific groups of people. For example, Big Tobacco released ads starting in the 1920’s to convince women to smoke by promoting certain cigarettes as feminine and empowering. Other ads targeted minority and marginalized groups and people who lived in specific communities, such rural areas.
Big Tobacco also provided free cigarettes to American soldiers from World War I all the way through the early 2000’s, leaving many veterans with nicotine addictions.
Even today, Big Tobacco targets children and teens to convert a whole new generation to smoking and vaping. For decades, they have used fruity and other sweet vape flavors, colorful packaging that looks like candy wrappers, and even cartoon mascots to make tobacco products appealing to young people.
One of the most well-known of these e-cigarette companies is JUUL, which has faced scrutiny across the United States for creating children- and teen-focused ads. Thirty-three states have sued JUUL after investigating the company’s marketing tactics. The investigations found that back in 2015, JUUL – contrary to their claims – deliberately made ads aimed at teens, using colorful television commercials and social media ads featuring young people. JUUL put these ads on youth websites, such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Seventeen magazine.
After facing numerous lawsuits, JUUL has paid out almost $440 million in settlements. The US Food and Drug Administration banned the sale of JUUL products in the United States in July 2022. In June 2024, the US FDA rescinded this ban, putting JUUL back in line for the premarket review process with a chance to be sold again. This may seem like a setback, but it is also an opportunity for the FDA to strengthen and improve vape market regulations in general.
While JUUL has faced consequences for their targeted ads, the company still paved the way for a youth vaping epidemic. Many other vape companies emerged since JUUL, such as Elf Bar, Puff Bar, and SMOK. These and other e-cigarette companies hide behind the mask that vaping is a healthier, smokefree alternative to cigarettes. However, Big Tobacco’s vapes and other so-called smokefree products still contain nicotine, laying the foundation for millions more Americans to become addicted to nicotine — and keep returning to Big Tobacco companies for more.
In 2024, over 1.6 million American middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes. This number has dropped since its highest in 2019, but tobacco prevention advocates fear that flavored nicotine pouches, such as Zyn, will replace vapes.
Haunting Other Industries
Beyond marketing, Big Tobacco infiltrates other industries. In the past, Big Tobacco convinced doctors to endorse cigarettes and hired scientists to publish faulty research saying smoking did not have negative health effects. This pseudoscience discredits actual scientists’ research and creates skepticism and confusion for the public about what is scientifically accurate.
Big Tobacco spins the narrative that they care about the health of customers and others exposed to tobacco smoke. For example, after the United Nations released their 30 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and promised to implement the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention of Tobacco Control, tobacco companies started posting that they support the SDG’s on their websites. The companies claimed that vapes were “less risky” than cigarettes and that they would improve public health and promote economic and environmental sustainability. They also presented the aerosol released from vapes as harmless water vapor, but in reality, it is chemical aerosol that is harmful to breathe in and sticks to surfaces just like second- and thirdhand smoke.
Research shows that children and teens who see people smoking in the media are more likely to smoke. Big Tobacco knows this. In the mid 1900’s, Big Tobacco paid movie producers to include actors smoking in their films and television shows, typically glamorizing it. While this tactic is now banned, smoking and vaping is still in many movies, television shows, video games, and on social media. In a media-dominated world, this means millions of children see celebrities and their peers smoking and vaping throughout their day-to-day lives.
Rating movies and shows with smoking as R or mature is one way to reduce Big Tobacco’s power of influencing children through the media. Movie theaters could also show anti-tobacco commercials in theaters before playing movies with smoking. Social media platforms and strengthen their screening for smoking and vaping content.
Big Tobacco also contributes to political campaigns in an effort to influence national- and state-level tobacco-related policies. The industry also donates to public health organizations and other nonprofits. Beyond this, some Big Tobacco companies form their own public health-focused groups. For example, Phillip Morris created and funds the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. In 2024, Phillip Morris changed the name of its organization to Global Action to End Smoking, promoting its e-cigarettes as a way for people to quit smoking. Essentially, the company is trying to gain new e-cigarette profits while disguising itself as an organization wanting to help people quit smoking. The World Health Organization refuses to partner with the organization and encourages other groups to do the same.
Tricking Research
Big Tobacco buys and invests in medical product companies, including Vectura, which makes inhalers, and Torrii Pharmaceutical, which develops medicines for lung and skin cancers. Sometimes, these medical product companies fund scientists’ tobacco research, so when Big Tobacco gets involved, they force scientists into an ethical dilemma. Should they reject the Big Tobacco funding and stop their study, consequently slowing tobacco research progress? Or should they accept the funding so they can finish the study, thus giving into Big Tobacco and becoming associated with the industry?
A BMJ investigation in May 2024 found that only 8 of 40 of the top medical journals had policies that banned studies that had received all or partial funding from Big Tobacco. These 40 journals covered general medicine or one of three medical specialties related to smoking: respiratory system, oncology (cancer), and cardiac/cardiovascular system. The BMJ’s findings suggest that the 32 journals with no policies could have research that was funded by the tobacco industry. These studies could be biased to make smoking and/or vaping seem safer.
In addition, Big Tobacco hid decades of research pointing towards the harms of tobacco use. For example, the industry has known for years that when people smoke indoors, toxic tobacco smoke residue, called thirdhand smoke, accumulates in indoor environments. Big Tobacco also knew that this residue becomes more toxic over time and does not simply disappear. However, the industry did not provide guidance to consumers, property owners, or apartment managers that people should never smoke indoors.
Scientists not funded by the tobacco industry are working to expose Big Tobacco. Dr. Suzaynn Schick, a member of the Thirdhand Smoke Research Consortium, and Adam Whitlatch examined research about toxic thirdhand smoke residue that was conducted by the tobacco industry. They uncovered that Big Tobacco knew that the amount of NNK, a cancer-causing chemical in tobacco smoke, increases overtime as tobacco smoke settles on surfaces and turns into thirdhand smoke. This is because the nicotine found on surfaces and in dust where people smokes is converted to NNK long after smoking or vaping ended.
This Halloween, keep an eye out for Big Tobacco’s tricks. Try to avoid companies and organizations that take funding from the tobacco industry and support businesses that do not. Educate yourself about Big Tobacco tactics at tobacco watchdog STOP. Don’t invest in tobacco companies or their subsidiaries. Inform people — especially youth — about the harms of tobacco products. Offer resources that teach them how to avoid commercial tobacco. Together, we can stop Big Tobacco’s hauntings.
Sources:
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