Philip Morris France fined €500,000 for illegal advertising of its new products

The Paris criminal court has fined Philip Morris France 500,000 euros for online publications from spring 2025 constituting "illegal propaganda or advertising in favor of heated tobacco and vaping".«[1]. The president of the group's French operations, Xavier Puech, was also fined €50,000 because he "necessarily approved the advertising strategy implemented" by the company, and was therefore "personally responsible for the offenses committed." Both he and Philip Morris France will also have to jointly pay €50,000 to DNF, as well as €5,000 to cover legal costs. This decision, handed down on May 20, 2026, follows two lawsuits filed by the anti-smoking association Demain sera Non-Fumeur (DNF). Philip Morris France has indicated that it has appealed.

Online advertisements and promotions deemed contrary to French law

The court ruled that several pieces of content published on websites dedicated to IQOS heated tobacco products, the use of which is "« inseparable from the heated tobacco refills sold under the Heets brand »"and which are tobacco products that cannot be advertised, and vaping products, constituted advertising prohibited by the Public Health Code. According to the ruling, certain statements promoted the products from the perspective of reducing tobacco-related risks, a purely marketing angle.".

Regarding VEEV vaping products, the court also noted the emphasis on sweet and fruity flavors likely to trivialize their consumption, targeting a "« broad audience »"including, in particular, young people and non-smokers.".

For several months, DNF identified numerous pieces of content presenting these products as modern alternatives to cigarettes, highlighting "harm reduction," promotional offers for new customers, discounts, and tools designed to facilitate initiation into consumption, as well as an editorial blog dedicated to the world of electronic cigarettes.[2].

The manufacturer's defense is being challenged by public health stakeholders, who denounce it as a deliberate strategy.

Philip Morris France disputes this interpretation and considers that the content in question was factual information intended for adult smokers.

However, this promotional strategy is illegal, and the manufacturer could not have been unaware of it: the disputed content was still accessible during the investigations carried out by DNF in March 2025, even though several legal proceedings were already targeting Philip Morris France for similar practices. In its ruling, the court also emphasizes that the executives of Philip Morris France "« could not ignore »"The applicable legal framework, taking into account in particular previous proceedings against the company, the sector of activity concerned, and the scale of the measures implemented. According to DNF, this decision illustrates the new forms of digital advertising now used by the tobacco and nicotine industry to circumvent existing advertising restrictions, in a deliberate strategy of considering the risk of conviction as an acceptable cost to avoid the obligations imposed by the Evin Law.".

Gérard Audureau, president of DNF, commented that’ On the eve of World No Tobacco Day, this decision concretely demonstrates the strategies denounced by the WHO and anti-smoking associations.. […] Behind the rhetoric of innovation, modernity, or "smoke-free" products, the courts remind us that this is indeed the promotion of products that trap people in addiction. ".

According to the annual report of the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Trends (OFDT)[3], The prevalence of smoking in the general adult population has been declining since 2000, particularly that of daily smokers, currently at 181 per 1,000 people. Among high school students, the proportion of daily smokers fell from 30.8 per 1,000 people in 2010 to 5.6 per 1,000 people in 2024. Faced with this decline, attributable to years of effective public health measures, the tobacco and nicotine industry is thus doing everything possible to expand its market for new nicotine products and target young people, who constitute the next generation of addicted consumers. Combating illicit promotional strategies is all the more important given that Vaping is on the rise, especially among high school students : 4 % vaped exclusively daily in 2024, compared to 0.8 % in 2022, with a peak in vaping among girls and in vocational high schools.

Comprehensive vigilance from civil society, along with exemplary controls and sanctions, are crucial.

This case serves as yet another reminder of the need for widespread vigilance in both physical and online retail outlets, and for exemplary legal action against a repeat offender industry that calculates the risk/benefit ratio to continue breaking the law and exploits lengthy legal proceedings to spread the nicotine epidemic. In January, Philip Morris had already been sued by the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT) and convicted in Paris for illegally promoting its IQOS heated tobacco device, and sued in Bordeaux for the same reasons by Green Party MP Nicolas Thierry..

Moreover, Public health experts have called for the harmonization of the European framework on the online promotion, advertising and sponsorship of these products., in order to ensure that cross-border trafficking is not possible between EU states.

©Generation Without Tobacco

AD

[1]Heated tobacco and vaping: Philip Morris and its chairman fined over €500,000 for "illegal advertising"«, Le Parisien with AFP, published on May 26, 2026, accessed on May 27, 2026

[2]Philip Morris France fined €500,000 for illegal advertising in favor of heated tobacco and vaping, DNF, published on May 26, 2026, accessed on May 27, 2026

[3]Smoking and quitting smoking by 2025, French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addictive Trends, published on May 27, 2026, accessed the same day

National Committee Against Smoking |