World No Tobacco Day

Tobacco and nicotine industries use insidious strategies to make their harmful products appealing, especially to young people. Manipulative product designs, attractive flavours, and glamourized marketing create a false sense of security and evoke desirability. We need to break the illusion. Nicotine and tobacco products are highly addictive and designed to sustain use, trapping users in a cycle of dependence. Additives mask the harshness of tobacco, making it easier to start and harder to quit. No more ‘candy coating’. Removing the appeal of these products through stricter regulations is essential to protecting current and future generations from harm. Don’t let the tobacco and nicotine industries trick people with their playbook. JOIN THE MOVEMENT: TAKE ACTION!  

The 2025 WNTD campaign aims to:Raise awareness:  Inform the public on how industry tactics manipulate the appearance and appeal of tobacco and nicotine products. Advocate for policy change :measures to ban flavours and additives that make these products more appealing complete bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, including on digital platforms; and regulation of the design of the products and their packages to make them less appealing. Reduce demand : Exposing these tactics aims to reduce demand, particularly among youth, ultimately lowering their exposure to nicotine and tobacco products. By unmasking these strategies, the campaign will to shine a light on the ways the industry markets addiction, driving demand reduction efforts and supporting long-term public health. Join the campaign to raise awareness and advocate for a healthier, tobacco-free future this World No Tobacco Day !

  Ahead of World No Tobacco Day 2025 ,  the WHO will host an online event exploring the marketing tricks, design features and strategies that make nicotine and tobacco products appealing, including flavours, which continue to lure children and young people into nicotine addiction . Featuring global health leaders, government officials, youth advocates, and researchers, this event will reveal how flavours, additives, as well as product packaging and other design elements, are engineered by tobacco and nicotine industries to appeal to new users and keep existing ones — and what countries are doing to push back. Speakers include: WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Head of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Dr Adriana Blanco Marquizo, leading researchers from South Africa, Yale University, and the Netherlands, tobacco control advocates, including the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and government officials. Media are welcome to attend and report on this...

The WHO is pleased to announce the theme for the 2025 World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) campaign: “ Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Industry Tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine Products. ” This year, the campaign will focus on revealing the tactics that the tobacco and nicotine industries use to make their harmful products seem attractive. Why this theme? One of the primary public health challenges today is the attractiveness of tobacco, nicotine, and related products, particularly to young audiences. The industry consistently tries to find ways to make these products appealing, adding flavours and other agents that change their smell, taste, or appearance. These additives are designed to mask the harshness of tobacco, thereby increasing its palatability, particularly among young people. Other tactics include: Glamorized marketing: Sleek designs, attractive colours, and alluring flavours are strategically used to attract a younger demographic, including through digital media channels. Deceptiv...

   In 2025 WHO and public health champions from across the globe will come together for WNTD to raise awareness about the harmful tactics of the tobacco industry. This year’s WNTD campaign aims to reveal the strategies employed by the tobacco and nicotine industries to make their harmful products enticing, particularly to young people. By exposing these tactics, WHO seeks to drive awareness, advocate for stronger policies, including a ban on flavours that make tobacco and nicotine products more appealing, and protect public health. Join us in Unmasking the appeal!

The theme of World No Tobacco Day 2025 is “ Bright products. Dark intentions. Unmasking the Appeal. ” The campaign aims to expose industry strategies that manipulate the appearance and appeal of tobacco and nicotine products . By unmasking these tactics, the initiative seeks to raise awareness, promote policy change, and reduce demand, especially among youth. Researchers, activists, civil society organizations, and journalism organizations from Canada, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as government agencies from Brazil, have been recognized with World Health Organization (WHO) WNTD 2025 Awards at the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland today. The WHO annually presents up to six awards per region to individuals or institutions that have made outstanding contributions to advancing policies and measures included in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) . The winners of the WNTD Awards are selected from nominations receiv...