For the past few years, the global consumption of tobacco has reported a major decline, pointing to the growing success of healthcare campaigns and educational programs aimed to curb smoking worldwide.
The drop was first reported by the World Health Organization in December 2019, several weeks prior to the COVID19 outbreak and was then celebrated as a "turning point in the fight against tobacco".
Two years later, another WHO report provided more precise figures, showing a drop from 1.32 billion smokers in 2015 to 1.30 billion.
Such numbers have been closely monitored by tobacco manufacturers, as they revealed an urging need to boost both marketing campaigns and innovate with new products that can appeal to younger generations and smokers who are considering quitting.
Source: VapingPost
Among the new tobacco trends that have been gaining popularity in recent years is heated tobacco devices, as opposed to burning ones, such as vape cigarettes also known as e-cigarettes, IQOS, and others.
Since 2012, leading tobacco companies have shown interest in not only purchasing successful e-cigarette makers but also starting their own lines and producing new devices. By 2013, the new smoking industry was worth nearly $3 billion.
Marketing these new smoking trends, tobacco makers have been attempting to address the different health concerns of smokers, pitching their new devices as the ultimate solution to enjoy the habit they love while feeling less worried about the damage it may inflict on their bodies.
One of the many "successful" examples is Philip Morris International's IQOS. The new strategy promoting IQOS has introduced it to the public claiming it is an "innovative tobacco product that reduces exposure to chemicals by heating tobacco to produce nicotine aerosol".
Source: Twitter
Drafting the words used for such advertising campaigns has carefully taken into consideration the need for cigarette makers to sound health-friendly, after being closely linked to fatal lung cancer and heart diseases.
IQOS advertisements also focus on it being a "high-tech and luxury" tobacco delivery product, which can be interpreted as an attempt to address youth who can be easily drawn to the latest tech trends.
Today, most tobacco businesses have their own electronic options, including British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, and Japan Tobacco International.
Consequently, total e-cigarette sales increased by nearly 50% (from 14.8 million units to 22 million units) between 2020 and 2021, with flavored options being particularly more popular, seeing sales grow by 64%.
These figures show that choosing e-cigarettes to keep the industry going was a sound decision, minimizing the damage caused by COVID19.
