Captured Youth: How the Tobacco Industry Seduces a New Generation
A new report by Fundeps analyzes the marketing and psychological persuasion strategies used by the tobacco industry to normalize the consumption of tobacco and nicotine among young people and adolescents, circumventing regulations and reducing risk perception.
Smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable death worldwide. Each year, it causes more than 7 million deaths, including 1.6 million resulting from involuntary exposure to smoke from tobacco and nicotine products. In order to survive, the tobacco industry requires new consumers—replacement smokers.
Within this context, we present the report “Captured Youth: Marketing and Psychology of the Tobacco Industry to Engage a New Generation,” a study that examines how the tobacco industry has managed to reposition products historically associated with addiction, disease, and death as symbols of enjoyment, belonging, and freedom among young people and adolescents.
In the report, Julián Pellegrini, Licentiate in Psychology (University of Buenos Aires) and Director of Project Squatters, explores the psychological techniques employed by tobacco marketing to exploit vulnerabilities characteristic of youth audiences. Drawing on insecurities, desires for belonging, and the pursuit of immediate gratification, the industry constructs strategies that transform these experiences into opportunities for expanding its business.
Far from disappearing, traditional advertising strategies have adapted to new formats. Today, the promotion of tobacco and nicotine products is disguised through social media, influencers, cultural events, aspirational aesthetics, and narratives of authenticity and enjoyment. They do not sell products; they sell identities, experiences, and lifestyles.
In this way, an addictive and lethal product is presented as an aesthetic accessory associated with modernity, success, and social acceptance. These sophisticated and opaque tactics enable the industry to evade existing regulations, reduce risk perception, and normalize consumption within the very spaces where youth identity is constructed.
The report’s focus is not only to denounce these practices, but also to understand their mechanisms: how perceptions are shaped, how the symbolic groundwork for early initiation is laid, and how these strategies challenge—and often surpass—current regulatory frameworks.
Understanding how tobacco industry marketing operates is a fundamental step toward strengthening public policies for tobacco prevention and control, protecting young people, and guaranteeing the right to health.
Contact:
Maga Ailén Merlo Vijarra, magamerlov@fundeps.org
