New TCRG research on IQOS marketing in the UK
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New TCRG research on IQOS marketing in the UK, Tobacco Tactics, updated 16 July 2025, accessed 28 December 2025.
A new Ad Watch article from the Tobacco Control Research Group brings together contemporary examples of marketing in the UK for IQOS, the flagship heated tobacco product of Philip Morris International (PMI), the largest transnational tobacco company in the world.
The examples included both physical and online IQOS marketing. Pop-up stores, complimentary hospitality, celebrity partnerships, competitions, and even stalls placed next to children’s confectionary were all used to promote IQOS.
This exposure of the tactics used to market IQOS is especially important in light of the proposed Tobacco and Vapes Bill in the UK.
The author, Dr Sophie Braznell, explains:
Right now, PMI are exploiting a perceived loophole by arguing that heated tobacco products are not covered by existing regulation. This is despite already being told by the Government that some of its IQOS marketing is illegal. The proposed Tobacco and Vapes Bill would definitively close this loophole, helping to stop PMI addicting a new generation.
Read the paper:
IQOS—marketing a tobacco product in the UK, S. Braznell, Tobacco Control, Published Online First: 1 July 2025, doi: 10.1136/tc-2024-059243
See a further TCRG paper:
- Corporate communication of the relative health risks of IQOS through a webchat service, S. Braznell, J.R. Branston, A.B. Gilmore, Tobacco Control, 2023, doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2021-056999
As well as the following Tobacco Tactics pages: