A Philip Morris advertisement for its heated tobacco product IQOS sets a troubling precedent

Philip Morris was allowed to market its IQOS brand of heated (or ‘heat-not-burn’) tobacco in the USA in April 2019 after receiving a marketing order from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requiring it to follow existing tobacco marketing regulations, as well as new reporting requirements that mandate Philip Morris ensures consumers are properly informed about the dangers of IQOS and minors are not targeted.1 However, as early as August 2019, Philip Morris already used covert marketing strategies that implied the FDA endorsed its product, violated FDA tobacco product regulations and circumvented the terms of the media channel it advertised on.

All of these concerns are illustrated in a single advertisement (figure 1A). A Google search for ‘heat not burn’ on 1 August 2019 returned as the first result an advertisement entitled ‘What is heat-not-burn? | Discover the technology | Alternatives to smoking’ that promoted a link…

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