UK: British American Tobacco wants to set up automatic distributors for vapes and nicotine pouches

British American Tobacco (BAT) has posted a job advert announcing plans to install vending machines for Velo (nicotine pouches) and Vuse (e-cigarettes) products in pubs in a dozen UK cities.[1].

L'job offer BAT is recruiting at least 12 salespeople to enter alcohol sales venues (nightclubs, pubs, cocktail bars). The aim is to find new locations for vending machines and also other development options to increase sales of the manufacturer's products. The target cities are Basingstoke, Birmingham, Bury St. Edmunds, Cambridge, Coventry, Crawley, Edinburgh, Exeter, Maidstone, Reading, Royal Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks.

Questions about the accessibility of these products to minors

The vaping and nicotine pouch vending machines at these locations have raised concerns about the potential sale of products to minors. Asked how the devices will prevent sales to minors, BAT responded: "Our machines will use the best method of age verification, in order to ensure compliance with this essential principle."

The sale of cigarettes from vending machines was banned in the United Kingdom in October 2011 due to their accessibility to minors. Before the ban, 14% of 11- to 15-year-olds who smoked reported that vending machines were their usual source of supply. The vast majority of European countries have banned cigarette vending machines, based on scientific evidence that young people have easy access to tobacco products through vending machines. Increasingly sophisticated measures to restrict access to tobacco products in vending machines to adults have proven largely ineffective.

The sale of e-cigarettes in vending machines is not permitted in Scotland

The establishment of vending machines by BAT, selling vaping products in Edinburgh would be against the law. In 2010, Scotland legislated to ban the sale of cigarettes and vaping products, whether or not they contain nicotine, in vending machines (see Scottish Tobacco and Primary Care Services Act 2010).

Health groups are concerned, however, that the ban does not include nicotine pouches that are increasingly being used by young people across the UK. They are also not subject to the regulations imposed on nicotine e-cigarettes following the transposition of the EU Tobacco Products Directive, such as the need for health warnings and a maximum permitted nicotine content.

Aggressive marketing operations

This questioning of the real inability of young people to access products in these distributors is all the more pressing given that the manufacturer has been deploying major advertising campaigns around the world targeting young people since 2021. These campaigns promote its vaping devices and its nicotine pouch brand both online and at points of sale. In 2021, the manufacturer launched a £1 billion (€1.16 billion) marketing campaign that relied heavily on social media and event sponsorship to promote its nicotine pouches. In 2023, an analysis by the American organization Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) of a BAT campaign on Instagram aimed at promoting VELO nicotine pouches showed that more than a quarter of the audience on these social media platforms was aged 12 to 24. In France, the National Committee against Smoking (CNCT) has convicted British American Tobacco France (BATF) for illegal advertising for vaping products on the Internet, forcing the manufacturer to cease its activities on social networks. However, the association continues to note the massive deployment of advertising and salespeople at points of sale. In the barometer published quarterly[2], the CNCT indicates "British American Tobacco remains the manufacturer committing the most violations in terms of advertising for vaping products and nicotine pouches in the points of sale visited."

AE

[1] EXCLUSIVE: BAT's plans for vape vending machines in pubs revealed, Better Retailing, published June 18, 2024

[2] Barometer of advertising at points of sale, CNCT