Geneva, 17 October 2025 – The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the theme for World No Tobacco Day 2026: “Unmasking the appeal – countering nicotine and tobacco addiction.” The campaign will highlight how the tobacco and nicotine industry continues to repackage and market products to children and adolescents while evading stronger tobacco control measures worldwide.

Despite decades of progress in reducing tobacco use, industry tactics remain persistent. Companies are promoting new nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and synthetic nicotine devices, often presented as innovations to sustain addiction and recruit new users. These strategies threaten to reverse gains in tobacco control and public health.

Recent data reveal the scale of the crisis. Globally, at least 40 million children aged 13 to 15 currently use at least one tobacco product, including 20 million cigarette smokers and 10 million smokeless tobacco users. At least 15 million adolescents are already using e-cigarettes, and in countries with available data, children are on average nine times more likely than adults to vape.

“Young people are being targeted by design,” said Vinayak M Prasad, Head of WHO’s No Tobacco Unit. “Flavours, packaging, and marketing make highly addictive and harmful products appear fashionable. This creates a cycle of addiction that threatens to undo years of tobacco control progress.”

The 2026 campaign aims to:

• Raise awareness of the tobacco and nicotine industry’s evolving strategies, including synthetic nicotine, nicotine salts, and analogues that increase addiction potential.

• Advocate for stronger policies to protect youth, including bans on flavours, advertising, and promotion on digital and social media, and regulations on packaging and product design.

• Equip the public, especially young people, with knowledge and tools to resist industry influence and access evidence-based cessation support.

Building on the momentum of the 2025 campaign, WNTD 2026 demonstrates WHO’s commitment to exposing industry tactics and strengthening policies to protect communities from nicotine addiction. The campaign calls on governments, partners, and civil society to close policy gaps and safeguard future generations.

World No Tobacco Day is observed annually on 31 May and unites governments, health organizations, civil society, and youth voices in a shared mission to end the tobacco epidemic and promote a tobacco- and nicotine-free future.

Source: World Health Organization