A quick look at some of the statements they made which might be of interest to Canadian tobacco policy-makers.
New nicotine products (i.e. vaping) have reversed the decline in tobacco use.
In BAT's largest 40 markets (excluding the USA), the number of nicotine users (including both smokers, vapers and people who use oral tobacco) is now higher than it was a decade ago. The epidemic of nicotine addiction is not shrinking - it is growing.
Forecasting suggests vaping products will not reduce the number of smokers
BAT is not predicting that vaping will replace smoking, but that it will add to it. Their 5 year forecast shows a very slight decline in cigarette smokers (even slower than the death rate would suggest), and a steady growth in other product users. (In the chart below, light blue is vaping, yellow is heat not burn and green is modern oral tobacco, discussed below).
Public health officials may be hoping that vaping will replace smoking -- but BAT is assuring its investors that this won't happen.
Vaping is now the main gateway to nicotine use for Canadians.
Over decades, Canadian governments have put laws in place to remove inducements for young people to smoke cigarettes. Television ads, billboards, retail displays and sponsored events promoting cigarettes have been squeezed out of young people's environment. But the same laws are not in place in Canasda (except in Quebec) for vaping products. The result, according to BAT research is that 5 in 10 "entrants" (new users) to the nicotine market in Canada are attracted first to vaping products.
Vaping is not for switchers, its for starters.
The rationale given by Canadian governments (and others) for a lax approach to regulating vaping was that they wanted to encourage smokers to switch to products which were viewed (by government and others) as less harmful. But it turns out that more than half of those who use vaping products are non-smokers - a situation unlike heated tobacco products, where only 1 in 10 users are not already nicotine users.
BAT's primary marketing tools are not embraced by traditional FCTC-style regulation
Big data, direct contact with consumers, digital marketing and retail loyalty programs are the primary arrows in BAT's marketing quiver. By contrast, Canada's recently revised Tobacco and Vaping Products Act is constructed around traditional broadcast marketing (as are other countries). There are few measures yet in place to monitor, let alone regulate, these activities.
These are only a few of a hundred of more slides that cover important topics like poly-use, new products, regulatory impact, menthol bans and more. Food for thought!
