Heated tobacco ads are everywhere – how are tobacco companies getting away with it?

A new BBC investigation has found that tobacco companies are promoting heated tobacco products in shops, despite being told by the government back in 2018 that this was "prohibited" and being asked to "desist from such promotion in the future". But what exactly are these products, and why is their promotion a cause for concern?

Heated tobacco products are designed to heat tobacco to a high enough temperature to release vapour containing nicotine and other chemicals, without burning it or producing smoke. Evidence suggests that heated tobacco products may be less harmful than cigarettes but more harmful than vapes. In 2024, fewer than 1% of adults in England used heated tobacco, with 18-24-year-olds four times more likely to have tried it (4%) than those aged over 50 (0.9%).

ASH has collected several examples of in-store promotions for heated tobacco, specifically Philip Morris’s IQOS and Japan Tobacco International’s Ploom. This includes video screens in supermarkets, promotional stands, branded popup booths, window displays and shop signage. These promotions make heated tobacco highly visible to the public, including young people. One image even shows a colourful IQOS stand placed next to a sweet display being used by a small child.

It has been illegal to advertise or promote tobacco products since the introduction of the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act (TAPA) in 2002. However, because heated tobacco did not exist in 2002, it is not explicitly named in the legislation – which defines a tobacco product as “consisting wholly or partly of tobacco and intended to be smoked, sniffed, sucked or chewed.” Although the Act was clearly intended to prohibit advertising of tobacco in all forms, tobacco companies exploited this wording, arguing that heated tobacco is not covered because it is heated, not smoked.

In 2018, then-Public Health minister Steve Brine wrote to Philip Morris, confirming that TAPA “applies to all tobacco products, including novel tobacco products. It also applies to the indirect promotion of tobacco products by promoting devices that may only be used with tobacco products, such as the IQOS device.”

Despite Philip Morris agreeing to “suspend” advertising for IQOS in 2018, both they and Japan Tobacco International have resumed marketing their heated tobacco products in shops.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will address this by explicitly prohibiting promotion of all tobacco products. This will ensure there can be no debate about the marketing of heated tobacco or any other novel tobacco products the industry might develop in future. In the meantime, retailers should listen to trading standards – not tobacco companies – and stop promoting these harmful products.

John Waldron, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at ASH

• To find out more about what the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will cover, visit our dedicated webpage.