New STOP report on children’s exposure to tobacco industry retail marketing near schools

22 September 2025, at 12:47.

A new report released from STOP, Notebooks to Nicotine: How Big Tobacco Targets Kids Near Schools Across the Eastern Mediterranean, exploring how and why the industry is targeting children in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR).

The report summarizes the findings from recent research undertaken in Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt, and explains how the industry uses retail locations as a tactic to reach children, encourage them to use its addictive products and become lifelong customers. Key findings include:

Across those countries, most points of sale that were surveyed near schools sell tobacco and/or nicotine products.

In Jordan, 86% of surveyed retailers that sold e-cigarettes sold flavoured e-cigarettes.

In Pakistan, 65% of surveyed retailers displayed tobacco and nicotine products near sweets, snacks and/or toys.

In Egypt, 85% of surveyed retailers sold single cigarettes; in Pakistan, that figure was even higher at 99%.

Director of STOP at Vital Strategies, Jorge Alday, said of the findings:

“The tobacco industry knows that its most profitable lifetime customers are those who become hooked at an early age, so it’s no surprise to find all kinds of products near schools. Flavors, accessibility and promotions are a formula to fuel addiction among the next generation, bolstering industry profits while damaging public health for generations to come.”

Dr. Raouf Alebshehy, Managing Editor of Tobacco Tactics at the University of Bath Tobacco Control Research Group, said:

“This report confirms that the implementation and enforcement of strong policies to regulate how and where tobacco is sold is more urgently needed than ever, to help protect children and young people in the Eastern Mediterranean region. These policies should include reducing the number of tobacco retailers, banning sales of tobacco near schools and other places where children congregate, and banning tobacco advertising at points of sale.”

Read the full report here.