Unmasking the appeal: How the tobacco and vaping industry is trapping South Africa’s youth

Author: Ms Lungile Mavundla

For decades, public health advocates celebrated major victories against smoking in South Africa. Strict tobacco control laws reduced cigarette advertising, smoking became less socially acceptable, and younger generations increasingly understood the dangers of tobacco use. But the tobacco industry did not disappear. Instead, it reinvented itself.

Today, many South African schools no longer smell of cigarette smoke. Instead, school bathrooms and playgrounds are filled with sweet-smelling aerosol clouds flavoured like berries, mango, bubble gum, and cotton candy. Sleek vaping devices designed like USB drives or high-tech gadgets easily fit into blazer pockets and can sit unnoticed on school desks. The products may look modern and harmless, but they are delivering highly addictive nicotine to a new generation.

This is the reality behind the World Health Organization’s World No Tobacco Day 2026 theme: “Unmasking the appeal – Countering tobacco and nicotine addiction.” The campaign highlights how tobacco and nicotine companies continue to redesign and market addictive products to attract children and young people. Nowhere is this more urgent than in South Africa, where delays in passing the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill continue to leave young people exposed.

South Africa is no longer simply observing this problem; our youth have become a major target market. Earlier public health surveys, including the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, already warned that tobacco use among adolescents remained a concern. More recent evidence now shows that vaping has dramatically overtaken cigarette smoking among young people.

One of the largest South African school-based studies, the Adolescents Fresh Air project led by researchers at the University of Cape Town, surveyed more than 25,000 learners across 52 schools. While cigarette smoking among learners was relatively low at 2.1%, vaping prevalence had risen sharply to 16.8%. Among Grade 12 learners, vaping averaged 26.5%, reaching almost half of learners in some schools.

The problem continues beyond school. Research among South African university students found that more than one in four students reported current vaping. These findings reflect how aggressively the industry has shifted its focus towards young consumers.

A major reason for this trend is the regulatory gap around electronic cigarettes and vaping products. Unlike traditional cigarettes, vaping products in South Africa have largely escaped the strong advertising and display restrictions applied to tobacco products. The industry has exploited this loophole through social media influencers, colourful branding, attractive flavours, and eye-level retail displays in shopping centres and convenience stores.

At the same time, tobacco companies increasingly present themselves as socially responsible corporations. The National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) recently highlighted how multinational tobacco companies operating in South Africa use Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting to improve their public image while continuing to market addictive products.

These glossy reports promote “sustainability”, recycling initiatives, and diversity targets, while distracting attention from the core business model of selling harmful and addictive products. Public health evidence remains clear: tobacco use kills more than 30,000 South Africans every year.

The industry’s behaviour during recent public consultations on the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill also revealed the extent of its lobbying power. Public debate was flooded with claims that the legislation would increase illicit cigarette trade, destroy jobs and damage the economy. Yet similar arguments were historically used worldwide, including in South Africa to oppose smoke-free laws, advertising bans, and other tobacco control measures that later proved highly successful in protecting health.

South Africa’s experience mirrors a growing global crisis. Worldwide, millions of adolescents now use nicotine and tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. In several countries, children are significantly more likely to vape than adults.

The vaping industry frequently argues that e-cigarettes are intended for “harm reduction” and helping adult smokers quit. While smoking cessation remains important, this argument cannot justify exposing children and adolescents to highly addictive nicotine products marketed through flavours, trendy packaging, and social media campaigns.

If vaping products were genuinely designed only for adult smokers trying to quit, companies would not need flavours resembling sweets and desserts, youth-oriented marketing, or influencer-driven advertising campaigns. Public health approaches to smoking cessation already include evidence-based pharmaceutical and behavioural support options that do not rely on creating a new generation addicted to nicotine.

The Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill seeks to close many of the loopholes currently exploited by the industry. The legislation would strengthen restrictions on advertising, regulate product displays, extend smoke-free protections, and provide greater safeguards against the marketing of addictive products to children.

Parliament should resist pressure from the tobacco and vaping industries and prioritise the health of South Africa’s youth. Public health organisations, including the NCAS, Cancer Association of South Africa, and research institutions such as the Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research at the University of Pretoria and the South African Medical Research Council, all working together under the umbrella of the Protect Our Next (PON) Campaign, have repeatedly warned that delays in regulation will only worsen youth nicotine addiction.

The tobacco and vaping industries may have changed their packaging, flavours, and marketing strategies, but the underlying business model remains the same: recruiting new users to sustain profits. Behind the bright colours, sweet flavours, and sleek technology lies the same addiction trap that public health has fought for decades.