M&G Op-ed: Big Tobacco’s profit addiction needs a quit plan

Every year on 31 May, the World Health Organisation hosts World No Tobacco Day. The event shines a spotlight on the harmful effects of tobacco use and rallies global efforts to curb it. This year’s theme calls out the marketing tactics Big Tobacco uses to hook new users — especially young people. 

Because tobacco kills up to half of all lifetime users, tobacco companies must relentlessly seek new customers to sustain their profits. For decades, the industry has targeted young people, knowing that early addiction fuels a lifetime of reliable revenues. Advertising has been the linchpin in enticing each new generation to sustain their deadly trade.

On World No Tobacco Day 2025, the urgent need to protect South Africa’s young people from exploitative marketing tactics takes centre stage. The Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill rises to this challenge, aiming to regulate vaping, and close loopholes that enable youth-targeted marketing of more traditional tobacco products. 

In this op-ed article, authors Sam Filby and Prof. Corné van Walbeek explain that the Bill is more than regulation: it demands that Big Tobacco and its affiliates end their predatory marketing aimed at young people and protects South Africa’s youth from deceptive tactics which drive lifelong addiction and health harms.

Read the article in full here: https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/2025-05-30-big-tobaccos-profit-addiction-needs-a-quit-plan/