New TCRG Research Compares Language Describing Tobacco Use and Tobacco Users

A new paper from the Tobacco Control Research Group investigates differences in the language used to describe tobacco use and tobacco users by two transnational tobacco companies, health organisations and users of general English. These differences are significant, as the tobacco industry may exploit complexity to increase acceptability of tobacco use and influence public understanding of its risks.

The paper found that there was very little shared language between these three groups. This suggests that the complex tobacco and nicotine product landscape is confusing to consumers and that information is vulnerable to distortion, posing challenges to effective tobacco control policy implementation.

As lead author Iona Fitzpatrick explains:

“Calls to be intentional and inclusive in the use of tobacco-related language across sectors have not been widely taken up, whether by health organisations or by speakers of general English. Language around tobacco use is highly variable both between and within these groups.”

Read the paper:

Investigation of Differences in Tobacco Use Language Between Groups: Corpus-Assisted Analysis, I. Fitzpatrick & X. Sun. JMIR Infodemiology 2026;6:e86593, doi: 10.2196/86593

See also the Tobacco Tactics Pages:

• British American Tobacco
• Philip Morris International
• Arguments and Language
• PMI’s IQOS: Use, “Switching” and “Quitting”
• Tobacco Industry Product Terminology