Unmasking the appeal - countering nicotine and tobacco addiction

World No Tobacco Day 2026：Unmasking the appeal – countering nicotine and tobacco addiction

The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced the theme for World No Tobacco Day 2026: “Unmasking the appeal – countering nicotine and tobacco addiction.

The campaign will expose how the tobacco and nicotine industry continues to reinvent and repackage its products to hook a new generation, particularly children and adolescents, while evading stronger tobacco control measures worldwide.

In light of decades of progress in reducing tobacco use, the tobacco industry’s tactics remain relentless.

Companies are aggressively marketing new and emerging nicotine products such as e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and synthetic nicotine devices – often disguised as “innovation” – to sustain addiction and recruit new users.

These strategies threaten to reverse hard-won gains in tobacco control and public health.

Startling new data reveal the scale of the crisis: at least 40 million children aged 13–15 globally report current use of at least one tobacco product.

Of these, 20 million smoke cigarettes and 10 million use smokeless (oral/nasal) tobacco.

Also, at least 15 million adolescents aged 13–15 years are already using e-cigarettes, and in countries with data, children are on average nine times more likely than adults to vape.

“Young people are being targeted by design,” said Vinayak M Prasad, Head of the No Tobacco Unit, WHO. “Flavours, slick packaging, and deceptive marketing are being used to make highly addictive and harmful products seem fashionable. The result is a cycle of addiction threatening to undo years of tobacco control progress.”

Building on momentum：

The 2026 campaign aims to:

⚫ Raise awareness of the tobacco and nicotine industry’s evolving strategies, including the use of syntheticnicotine, nicotine salts, and analogues to increase addiction potential while appearing technologicallyadvanced;

⚫ Advocate for stronger policy action to protect youth through bans on flavours, advertising andpromotion (including on digital and social media), and regulation of packaging and product design thatincrease appeal; and

⚫ Prevent addiction and reduce demand by equipping the public – especially youth – with the knowledgeand tools to resist industry manipulation and access evidence-based cessation support.

Building on the momentum of the 2025 campaign, World No Tobacco Day 2026 highlights WHO’s continued commitment to exposing industry tactics and advancing policies to protect young people and communities from nicotine addiction.

The campaign calls on governments, partners, and civil society to strengthen regulation, close policy gaps, and safeguard future generations from the harms of tobacco and nicotine products.

Each year on 31 May, World No Tobacco Day unites governments, health organizations, civil society, and youth voices under a shared mission: to end the tobacco epidemic and secure a tobacco- and nicotine-free future for the next generation.

Need for stronger policies to protect youth in the WHO European Region

The European Region continues to face a high and gender-balanced adolescent tobacco burden. Approximately 11.6% of 13–15-year-olds (around 4 million) use tobacco (11.8% of boys and 11.4% of girls, roughly 2 million each). The Region has the highest global prevalence of adolescent cigarette smoking (8.4%) and the highest rate of smoking among adolescent girls (8.7%).

Use of nicotine products such as e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches is increasing rapidly among youth. The European Region has the highest global average prevalence of e-cigarette use among adolescents aged 13– 15 years – at 14.3%, with similar rates among boys (13.6%) and girls (15%). Comparisons between adult and adolescent survey results reveal a striking pattern: in a third of countries in the Region, the prevalence of e-cigarette use among adolescents is at least 5 times higher than among adults.

Despite these concerning trends, significant policy gaps remain. WHO data for 2024 show that only 7 countries in the Region ban all e-cigarette flavours, while 5 do not apply age restrictions on sales. Eight countries have no restrictions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship; 19 have partial bans; and 10 do not regulate e-cigarette use in public places. These gaps leave young people particularly vulnerable to targeted marketing and product designs intended to sustain nicotine addiction.

Protecting future generations

Studies show that e-cigarette use can increase conventional cigarette uptake, particularly among nonsmoking youth, by nearly 3 times, undermining tobacco control efforts.

World No Tobacco Day 2026 provides an opportunity to highlight how the tobacco and nicotine industry continues to repackage and rebrand its products to attract a new generation – particularly children and adolescents – while attempting to evade stronger tobacco control measures worldwide.Source:1.

https://www.who.int/news/item/17-10-2025-world-no-tobacco-day-2026--unmasking-the-appeal---countering-nicotine-and-tobacco-addiction2. https://www.who.int/europe/news-room/events/item/2026/05/31/default-calendar/world-no-tobacco-day-2026--unmasking-the-appeal---countering-nicotine-and-tobacco-addiction (2026.04.14 更新)