Here are films that can be used in tobacco prevention work. There are different subjects: help children say no, animated films about nicotine, white snus and tobacco as a environmental threat and also a flashmobtutorial to use for spreading the word about the tobacco issue.
Some of the videos are available in different lengths and in multiple languages. It is also possible to get the movies as a file. Contact info@tobaksfakta.se and we will send them to your email.
Campaign film about helping children say no
ANIMATED FILMS
Film about white snus, format 16:9 (1,17 min)
Short film about white snus, format 16:9 (0,29 min)
Film about white snus, format 9:16 (1,17 min)
Short film about white snus, format 9:16 (0,29 min)
Film about nicotine, format 9:16
Film about the environmental impact of tobacco, format 9:16
Film about the environmental impact of tobacco, format 9:16, Spanish
Film about the environmental impact of tobacco, format 9:16, Arabic
Tobacco prevention is a political issue and it is important to spread knowledge about The Tobacco Convention to politicians. Here are concise texts to spread about the articles in the convention
Here are the facts for you who want to support your child to say no to all forms of tobacco. Interspersed with knowledge, there are also reflection questions that you can raise with your child. The idea is that the questions will contribute to an important conversation about nicotine addiction, and all forms of nicotine products. The goal is for your child to gain their own motivation to say no and be better equipped to withstand peer pressure.
The tobacco industry has been striving for over 100 years to make money making young people addicted to nicotine, and they have a number of well-developed strategies aimed at enticing your child to try tobacco. As you probably know, your child does not get any health benefits or financial benefits from being an addict. Rather, it has many negative consequences, both in the short and long term. It is not certain that your child realizes this and therefore it is important that you help him to reflect on it.
Brief facts about tobacco use
Tobacco is no longer just about cigarettes and brown snus but also e-cigarettes, puff bars, and white snus (or so-called nicotine bags). New products are constantly coming out on the market. Common to all the products is that they contain nicotine which is highly addictive.
Almost all addicted adults became so when they were teenagers. If you can help your child to abstain from tobacco until he or she turns 20, it means a reduced risk of addiction in adulthood. It is a great benefit for your child, both financially and health-wise.
Brief facts about nicotine
The latest research shows that the use of nicotine during adolescence or early adulthood rebuilds and creates lasting changes in the brain. This is because the brain has not had time to be fully developed and is therefore more sensitive to nicotine.
Nicotine use has a negative effect on children’s concentration and memory, and increases the risk of mental illness. Children and adolescents who use nicotine products are also more susceptible to infections and also get easier headaches and stomach aches. This means that they get more school absenteeism, which risks affecting school results. It has also been shown that children who are addicted to nicotine have an easier time starting with other drugs, such as cannabis.
Here you and your child can watch a short animated film about nicotine (1.44 min) Reflect on the content together. Please note specifically that even products called tobacco-free are full of nicotine – which is addictive.
This is how children are attracted
The tobacco industry uses various tricks to recruit children and huge amounts of money are invested in marketing – $ 1 million per hour globally. Among other things, there is a massive impact on social media, which most parents do not know about, and child locks, for example, via their channels on Tik Tok and Instagram. There, influencers, on behalf of the tobacco companies, show new nicotine products that children become curious about. These are available with thousands of enticing flavors, the packaging is nicely designed with nice colors. It is easy for children to order new products at home, such as puff bars, white snus and e-cigarettes, even if they are under 18 years old. The deliveries are either so neutral that parents do not react or the children pick them up via postal agents. As a parent, it is extremely difficult to have an overview of what the children see and do.
Ask your child/children how often they see different nicotine and tobacco products on their social media, how they are produced and how they (or their friends) are affected by it, show that you understand that it can be easy to miss that the products are dangerous – because they are so colorful and flavored with the same types of flavors as, for example, sweets – but help your child reflect on how he can do to remind himself how important it is to say no.
Peer pressure
You as a parent/guardian are an important support for your child to be able to say no. Because it’s not an easy thing. The group pressure among children is great and when you want to fit in, it is easy to give in. Tobacco has been used by teenagers for many years as a marker for them to start growing up. It used to be ”cool” to smoke, now many young people think it is cool to also use snus and e-cigarettes. And even if you yourself do not think so, maybe even friends do. There is a great risk that your child will start because someone at school offers nicotine products.
Talk to your child about peer pressure. Feel free to share if you yourself have any memories from your teenage years about it. It does not matter if you fell for the peer pressure or if you managed to resist. All experiences are rewarding for your child to talk about. Feel free to play role-playing games where your child gets to practice saying no when you play a friend who is trying to invite.
Get support from other parents
Being a parent is great, but it is also difficult. The teenage period can be a little extra tricky. The children become more independent and you as a parent / guardian get less insight into the children’s private sphere. You no longer have any natural meeting places where you meet other parents and it can sometimes feel lonely to deal with all the issues that arise. Feel free to contact some other parents, mothers and fathers of friends of your children, and talk about how you can help to prevent your children from becoming addicted. You can also raise the issue at the school’s parent meetings. And you, tell me you did it for your kids. Maybe your child shows some irritation, but remember that deep down, children are happy when they notice that their parents are getting involved.
All children are different. However, research shows that it is effective to ban your child from using tobacco. However, you do not have to start at that end, but can instead first ask your child how you can best act to help him not become addicted. After you have talked about it, you can say that you, out of consideration, also forbid your child to use all kinds of nicotineproducts.
Dare to be hard
It is never possible to know when your particular child will be exposed to tobacco on their social media, or be pressured to try it by friends. Therefore, it is good if you raise the issue of tobacco regularly. Even you who use tobacco yourself can do it. Maybe your child will question why you try to help him say no, when you yourself snuff or smoke. You can then explain that you know what it’s like to be a nicotinist, and do not want your child to be one too. Also, think about how you talk about tobacco products when your children are around. If you lift snus as something harmless, the risk increases that your child will also start.
More arguments that can motivate your teen
Your child may not care how a nicotine addiction would affect their health or finances. But then there are several other things to talk about. One argument that may motivate your teen to give up is that it is common for children to be exploited in tobacco production. In fact, it is so horrible that many children die every year because they have been poisoned by nicotine and pesticides in the tobacco fields. Another argument that can go awry is that all tobacco products harm the environment.
Here you and your child can watch a short animated film about how tobacco harms the environment (1.26 min) Reflect on the content together.
If your child does not accept the above argument, you can try to lift tobacco use from an economic perspective. Ask how much different nicotineproducts cost and talk about how much a daily use would cost your child economically. Ask your teen what they would rather do for that money.
Sign to increase the protection of children
This support material has been developed as part of the Laws for All Children’s Future campaign. The campaign aims to influence politicians to legislate to protect children from addiction and thereby help them say no. You can be involved in influencing tobacco policy by signing a petition. Read more and sign up here!
Nicotine is a substance extracted from the tobacco plant. It is the key addictive component of tobacco products such as cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and brown and white snus. Nicotine is a poison with a powerful impact on the body, and the child’s brain is extra sensitive. In addition, children can get addicted more easily than adults.
Pure nicotine is so toxic that it is banned. If you get 0.5–1.0 g at once, you die. Cigarettes, snus and other nicotine products contain much less nicotine than that, but still enough to make you feel sick or even vomit the first time you use it. It is the body’s warning that nicotine is dangerous. Most people are in their teens when they try products that contain nicotine, and even though the body reacts negatively, many of them try again because of peer pressure, often at school. After a while, tolerance to the nicotine develops and the feeling of discomfort ceases. Then they can experience positive effects of nicotine, such as feeling alert for example.
Young people experience these effects more strongly than adults, and they also run a greater risk of becoming dependent of nicotine. It is a highly addictive substance, to a greater degree than cocaine and heroin. Use snus only 5–6 times and you are in the risk-zone for being addicted.
Statistics show that a third of the adult population in Sweden is addicted to nicotine, and almost all of them became dependent in their teens. 23 percent use nicotine daily and 7 percent at intervals. Being addicted is expensive and you become unfree in your everyday life by always having to make sure to have nicotine within reach. There is also an important risk that using nicotine will, sooner or later, end in adverse health effects.
For example, about 12,000 people die in Sweden each year due to smoking. So far, not much is known about to what extent the use of such products as e-cigarettes and brown and white snus have negative effects on human health.
An increasing number of research studies show how nicotine damages the cardiovascular system, the nervous system, and the brain. For example, nicotine exposure early in the fetal stage risks disrupting normal brain development. Use of nicotine can cause different kinds of changes to how the brain works until the age of 25. Using nicotine risks impairing the memory function and the ability to concentrate on something and there are also strong indications that smoking takes a heavy toll on mental health.
Much more careful research has been undertaken on harmful effects of smoking than on health risks from using other nicotine products, but as use of new nicotine products increases concurrently with decreased smoking, more research is being devoted to the new products. The tobacco industry calls nicotine a stimulant – a substance for relaxation and recreation. From a public health and child-rights perspective, children should be spared such misleading claims. Read more about how the tobacco industry works to enlist children as nicotine consumers and how society can help them say no to all forms of nicotine products and yes to a life free from nicotine addiction.
Tobacco is still a big problem in the world and millions of young people are lured in to addiction every year. In addition to serious damage to health, tobacco use costs society billions every year and has a major impact on the environment. Through important tobacco policy decisions, you as a politician can counteract this – and at the same time promote a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable development.
Many countries in the world has ratified the World Health Organization’s Tobacco Convention (WHO FCTC). Few of them has implemented all the recommended measures to continue reducing and preventing tobacco use. Tobacco use in all its forms ways entails serious health risks and a financial burden for the individual, but also constitutes an enormous burden for the entire society.
Most countries in the world has ratified the World Health Organization’s Tobacco Convention (WHO FCTC). Few of them has implemented all the recommended measures to continue reducing and preventing tobacco use. Tobacco use in all its forms ways entails serious health risks and a financial burden for the individual, but also constitutes an enormous burden for the entire society.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children have the right to good physical and mental health, which means that all political decisions that affect children must be made with the best interests of the children in mind. Children’s rights should be a top priority and a guide in tobacco policy. Almost everyone who uses tobacco starts as a child, which makes children the main target group in the tobacco industry. In your role as a politician, you can help protect children from being attracted to a harmful nicotine addiction – which is directly contrary to their right to life, health and development.
Making decisions that improve public health, the economy and the environment is your responsibility as a politician, and tobacco policy is an important and effective tool. The introduction of laws to protect children from nicotine addiction is a benefit for everything and everyone – except the tobacco industry
The Tobacco Convention is like a toolbox with a variety of tobacco control measures based on research and experience. It is an important support for politicians aiming at influencing tobacco policy and politics.
The full name of the Tobacco Convention is the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Parties to the Convention agree on the objective of the Convention and on a framework for the actions and strategies to be implemented to achieve the objective. The articles of the Convention leave a great amount of freedom for the member countries to make tobacco control laws and efforts to address tobacco use in a way that suits the country’s conditions.
The Convention contains 38 articles
Many of these also include guidelines that describe in more detail how tobacco control measures should be implemented according to research and experience. The articles deal with, among other things, the means of helping people to get out of the habit of using tobacco, health warnings, tax and pricing policies that result in high and rising tobacco prices, regulation of tobacco products’ content, laws on smoke-free environments, and bans on marketing.
The Tobacco Convention entered into force 2005 and was ratified by Sweden the same year. In spring 2021, 168 countries had signed it. This means that the convention affects 90 percent of the world’s population.
Changed focus The Tobacco Convention has changed many politicians’ and decisionmaker´s attitude towards tobacco issues. In the past, tobacco use was often seen as the result of bad choices by individuals and the social discussion focused on how to change tobacco users’ way of life. The Tobacco Convention has clarified that the tobacco issue is, above all, a political issue. The focus has shifted to society’s responsibility to make it easier for citizens to be tobacco free. The Tobacco Convention also clearly highlights the tobacco industry’s – often secret – strategies for influencing tobacco policy. Strategies that aim at preventing tobacco use in the world from falling.
Tobacco threatens sustainable development Thanks to the Tobacco Convention, the tobacco issue has gained a more prominent place in the international work on global health, sustainable development, and human rights. For example, all the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the 2030 Agenda have a relation to tobacco control. This is because tobacco use and production lead to enormous damage to people and the environment, cause huge social costs and thus hinder social, economic, and environmentally sustainable development.
Tobacco Convention and the Rights of the Child As regards the rights of the child, the Tobacco Convention and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child have the same views. The aim of the Tobacco Convention is to protect ”present and future generations” from tobacco harm and the Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that countries must acknowledge the right of the child to enjoy the best attainable health. Society has a responsibility to protect children from the tobacco industry’s attempts to recruit them as future tobacco consumers.
Puffbars and white snus (a smokeless oral nicotine product) also called nicotinpouches has become increasingly popular and is for many young people a gateway to a nicotine addiction that they should have been spared. Enticing flavors trick young people into believing that the product is harmless, but it is as addictive as any other tobacco product.
White snus, marketed by the tobacco industry in oral nicotine pouches, is a relatively new product and the same goes for the puffbars. Recent years, the supply and demand have increased drastically. Today, virtually all major tobacco companies have launched their own brands, such as ZYN by Swedish Match, LYFT by British American Tobacco Sweden, and Nordic Spirit by Japan Tobacco International. The product has become increasingly popular, not least among children and adolescents.
Tobacco companies often market white snus as tobacco-free – even though the product contains high doses of nicotine extracted from tobacco. This is a tactic that companies use to make pretence of the product being less harmful, and to circumvent the law governing tobacco products.
By claiming that the products are tobacco-free and by having exchanged tobacco’s brown color for white and usually making them taste like tobacco, companies have escaped all the tobacco law’s rules regarding, for example, marketing, sales, excise duty, and the age limit for the purchase of tobacco products. They have, therefore, been able to attract consumers, even young people under the age of 18, with attractive packaging, pleasing condiments, and tempting advertising.
Large tobacco companies spend millions of dollars paying well-known persons to promote white snus and puffbars on social media. A survey 2020 in Sweden regarding young people’s attitudes to tobacco showed that more than a fifth of young people aged 14–18 said that they often see advertising for tobacco and nicotine products. Sixty five percent said that they believe young people are testing new nicotine products because they seem less dangerous than traditional tobacco products. A considerable share asserted that young people want to try them because they are present in popular culture. They also stated that the fact that they are sold in a variety of fruit flavors is of great importance. Many young people describe the new products as something that ”almost everyone uses”, that they are easy to get hold of and cheap and ”super fresh” with good tastes such as raspberry-licorice, Hubba Bubba flavors or cappuccino.
White snus and puffbars, like other tobacco and nicotine products, is highly addictive and poses many kinds of serious health risks. The Swedish Agency for Assessment of Health Technology and Social Services has performed a study that shows that users of snus or e-cigarettes start smoking traditional cigarettes more often than other people.
To protect children and young people from becoming trapped in a harmful habit, all nicotine products, except medicines, should be classified, taxed, and regulated as tobacco, and flavorings should be banned in all nicotine products.
As a politician, you should carefully consider before meeting representatives from the tobacco industry. It is part of the Tobacco Convention.
Article 5.3 of the Tobacco Convention states that countries must act to protect public health policy from commercial and other vested interests in the tobacco industry, on tobacco control issues. The reason for this harsh attitude is that for many years the tobacco industry has had a clear intention to undermine governments’ public health work on tobacco. This is explained in the introduction of the Guidelines for Article 5.3. To make it easier for countries to keep their distance, there are four main principles to be taken on.
There is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the tobacco industry and the interests of public health policy.
When dealing with the tobacco industry and those working to promote its interests, the government should act responsibly and transparently.
When interacting with the tobacco industry and those who promote its interests, the government must demand them to conduct responsibly and transparently.
Because the tobacco industry’s products are lethal, it should not be granted incentives to establish or run their businesses.
Based on these four main principles, there are eight recommendations for what countries should do to comply with the Convention. Point two of the recommendations is addressed directly to you as a politician. You should carefully consider the issue of the meeting with representatives of the tobacco industry. The outcome of the meeting should be reported in such a way that all citizens can take part in it.
The eight recommendations:
Raise awareness about the harmfulness of tobacco products and of the tobacco industry’s interference with tobacco policy. This requires continuous information and training.
Have as little as possible to do with the tobacco industry and report the interactions that yet occur. Before meeting with representatives of the tobacco industry government representatives and policymakers should carefully consider the matter. If members of parliament, for example, have such meetings, they must be reported publicly.
Say no to partnerships and agreements with the tobacco industry. This means, among other things, that authorities should not run projects together with tobacco companies. Countries should also not enter into agreements with tobacco companies on, for example, voluntary restrictions on marketing or the like.
Do not create conflicts of interest for government representatives and employees. Ministers, secretaries of state and other officials in the departments should, for example, not have shares in tobacco companies. They should also not be permitted to go directly from working for the government to employment in the tobacco industry.
Demand that information provided by the tobacco industry be transparent and accurate. This can be attained by means of laws on what data tobacco companies must report.
Limit the ability of the tobacco industry to engage in activities that the tobacco industry describes as socially responsible. This is important because tobacco companies are pleased to engage in such activities to improve their reputation.
Do not show partiality to the tobacco industry. Neither domestic nor foreign tobacco industry must benefit in any way, for example by excepting them from stipulations in tobacco legislation.
Treat state-owned tobacco industry in the same way as private-owned industry. Basically, however, the state should not have ownership interests in the tobacco industry, for example by shareholdings.
The content of tobacco products must be regulated and authorities and the public have the right to know what the products contain, according to the Tobacco Convention. It is not just about protecting people from the hazardous contents of the products, but also against what makes them attractive.
Snus is snus, albeit in golden cans, so the famous Swedish poet Gustav Fröding wrote in a famous poem from 1894. Something similar is expressed in the guidelines for Articles 9 and 10 of the Tobacco Convention. It is about understanding that something is not good, just because it looks good.
Article 9 of the Tobacco Convention stipulates that countries, in consultation with international bodies, must develop guidelines for testing and measuring the content, and emissions from consumption, of tobacco products. It is also about how the products can be regulated.
Article 10 deals with countries having laws and regulations that ensure that manufacturers and importers inform government agencies about the content of tobacco products and emissions from consumption. Countries must also ensure that the public has access to information about the products and their toxic constituents.
The common guidelines for Articles 9 and 10 of the Tobacco Convention state that tobacco products are often produced in a way that makes them as attractive as possible. From a public health perspective, this is not desirable. The Convention therefore calls on countries to introduce laws and regulations that reduce attractiveness.
The guidelines for Articles 9 and 10 highlight three perspectives on tobacco products: toxicity, the risk of them becoming addictive and their attractiveness. The guidelines contain several calls for ways to make the products less attractive. Some examples:
Countries should regulate the presence of ingredients that make the tobacco product tasty. These can be, for example, sugar, sweeteners and spices / herbs such as mint, cinnamon and ginger.
Countries should ban ingredients that give the feeling that they are good for health. These can be, for example, vitamins, and products from fruit and vegetable juices.
Countries should regulate product design aimed at increasing the attractiveness of products. It refers to the constantly ongoing product development that aims to meet different consumers’ wishes in terms of feeling of health, modernity, self-image, comfort, glamor and more.
Information to the public and authorities
In addition to regulations, information can also reduce the products’ attractiveness. The guidelines state that the primary purpose of information is for the public to be aware of the health consequences, that the products are addictive and that tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke constitute a deadly threat.
The authorities need knowledge of the national tobacco market to build up regulations and policies for how the products are to be handled. For example, it can be important to know the amount of nicotine in different products on the market, given that nicotine is the main substance when it comes to creating addiction.
Article 6 of the Tobacco Convention calls on countries to use tobacco taxes as a means of reducing tobacco consumption. High prices are particularly effective to influence young people’s use of tobacco.
To comply with Article 6 of the Tobacco Convention, Parties of the Convention are committed to:
Impose taxes and influence price formation to reduce tobacco use.
Restrict travelers purchases and import of tax-free tobacco products.
The Guidelines for Article 6 state that young people are twice to three times more responsive to price changes than older people. Therefore, tax increases will reduce tobacco use initiation and tobacco consumption among young people as well as the risk that they can’t stop using it.
The guidelines point out that low- and middle-income earners are more sensitive to tobacco price changes than high-income earners. From a public health perspective, higher taxes lower consumption of tobacco, especially among low-income earners, and will, thereby, reduce the morbidity and mortality rates in the population. In Sweden, cigarette addiction is more common among women and men with low incomes, according to a survey from CAN, the Central Association for Alcohol and Drug Education. Among women, snus addiction is most common in the low-income category, but among men snus addiction is most common among middle-income earners.
The guidelines point out that tobacco taxes both reduce consumption and raise government revenue which can be used to cover part of the social costs caused by tobacco use.
The guidelines for Article 6 include a number of recommendations for putting the article into practice:
Parties should design their tax systems for tobacco products in a way that taxes can be adapted to inflation and changes in purchasing power with the aim of continuously reducing tobacco consumption.
The Parties shall establish a tax system adapted to achieving both public health and fiscal objectives. It is preferable to apply specific excise taxes charged per quantity, such as per cigarette pack, regardless of price.
The tax system must be monitored and adjusted regularly.
All tobacco products shall be taxed in a similar way to avoid that some tobacco products benefit from the taxing scheme. By that, the system will not inadvertently encourage consumers to choose cheaper products within the same product category.
The tax system must be transparent and shall be supervised effectively.
The Parties shall facilitate tax controls. They shall, inter alia, have systems in place to make it more difficult for manufacturers and importers to increase stocks in anticipation of tax increases to take advantage of the current lower tax.
When appropriate, the parties may claim fiscal markings on packs of tobacco products.
The Parties shall ensure that there is an effective supervisory system and cooperation between the authorities involved, such as tax and customs authorities.
The Parties should consider using earmarked tobacco taxes to be used for financing tobacco control measures.
The Parties should consider prohibiting or severely restricting tax-free or duty-free sales of tobacco products to international travelers.
