Intensified advertising of heated tobacco products in Japan: an apparent shift in marketing strategy

Heated tobacco products (HTPs) were first introduced to the Japanese market in 2014, as a less harmful alternative to cigarettes.1 Since then, HTPs quickly gained popularity. In 2019, 27% and 8% of men and women, respectively, were current smokers; among whom, 20% of both men and women used HTPs exclusively, and 7% and 5% of men and women, respectively, used both HTPs and conventional cigarettes.2 The sales share of HTPs in 2019 was 24% of tobacco products.3 To understand how the tobacco industry has increased market share of HTPs so shortly in Japan, we examined the recent trend of tobacco advertising in newspapers and magazines. It is noted that Japan is a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, but tobacco ads are still allowed in these media.

Methods

We obtained the monthly volume (or total size) of ads on tobacco products in…

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