Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Industry Tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine Products
The World Health Organization (WHO) and global partners celebrate World No Tobacco Day every year on 31 May.
World No Tobacco Day 2025, under the theme “Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Industry Tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine Products,” exposes how the tobacco and nicotine industries use manipulative tactics – such as appealing product designs, attractive flavours, and glamourized marketing – to target young people and mask the dangers of their highly addictive products.
In 2022, an estimated 6 million adolescents used tobacco in the Western Pacific Region. This underscores the urgent need to protect the youth from these harmful products and deceptive industry tactics. Despite this alarming figure, only six countries have comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Flavours, a known gateway for youth initiation, remain largely unregulated. In countries where electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) sale is permitted, only three countries regulate flavours. For tobacco products, just one has imposed flavour restrictions.
While serious gaps remain, momentum for stronger action is growing. Countries continue to strengthen broader tobacco control measures with Lao People’s Democratic Republic implementing plain packaging and the Cook Islands adopting critical amendments to close the gaps in their tobacco control law. As of April 2025, 11 countries have banned e-cigarettes, with the Cook Islands, Nauru, and Viet Nam among the most recent to adopt this measure.
WHO calls on governments to adopt stronger measures, including banning flavours, regulating product design, enforcing plain packaging, banning advertising and promotion, supporting quitting, and increasing taxes to reduce accessibility, to protect future generations from nicotine addictions and prevent additional health and financial burdens.
World No Tobacco Day is a critical opportunity to expose industry deception, protect current and future generations from lifelong addiction, and drive comprehensive action for a healthier future.
Western Pacific Electronic Cigarette Dashboard
Explore the latest available data on electronic cigarette use, regulations, and policy measures across countries in the Western Pacific Region. Unmask the regulatory gaps to support evidence-informed dialogue and action.
World No Tobacco Day webinar
/campaigns/world-no-tobacco-day/2025/wntd2025webinar_socialcard_option2.png?sfvrsn=45743052_5&Status=Master "WNTD2025Webinar1")
The WHO Regional Offices for the South-East Asia and the Western Pacific will be hosting a webinar to commemorate World No Tobacco Day 2025 on 20 May 2025 at 11:30 AM Manila time (GMT+8).
Titled Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Industry Tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine Products through Implementation of Plain Packaging, the session will examine how the tobacco and nicotine industries continue to exploit packaging and product design to attract new users—particularly children and young people—despite increasing restrictions on advertising.
The webinar will highlight plain packaging as a proven and effective measure to reduce product appeal and advance public health objectives. What to expect:
- Insights into industry marketing strategies targeting youth
- Evidence on the impact of plain packaging
- Real-world experiences from Australia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nepal, and Thailand
- Strategies from the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) on countering industry interference
- Live Q&A with experts