The Journal.ie has raised the alarm over nicotine pouch marketing at Irish festivals. Spurred by the Irish Cancer Society’s claim that almost 700,000 festivalgoers were subjected to various pouch promotion efforts, the digital news website has added its voice to the calls to regulate the harm-reduction product. However, the situation is a bit more complex than the article might have you believe.
What happened at the festivals?
The article mentions four different music festivals that took place in Ireland over the summer. They were Electric Picnic, Forbidden Fruit, All Together Now, and Beyond the Pale. Velo (BAT) ran promotions at the first three, while Nordic Spirit (JTI) were at Beyond the Pale.
The article positions these promotions as involving free giveaways and merchandising. Ireland has already banned the sale and promotion of cigarettes and vapes at these events, but nicotine pouches currently sit outside that tobacco framework. The article also states that young children were seen wearing Velo caps and glasses at Electric Picnic.
Naturally, this has evoked the ire of various health groups. Suzanne Dowd, senior advocacy officer at the Irish Cancer Society, called it a “cynical ploy to hook another generation onto nicotine,” a phrase that has become a mantra in the anti-nicotine cult.
What the article fails to make clear is that Electric Picnic and Forbidden Fruit are over-18 events. All Together Now and Beyond the Pale are strictly over 21s. Children under 12 are allowed to come if accompanied by an adult. As such, no one aged 12 to 17 would have engaged with the products at the festival.
Additionally, if youth were there, they wouldn’t have been able to access the products either. To get a free tin, users had to scan a QR code and fill out a questionnaire about their nicotine habits. A BAT spokesperson told the Journal, “Comprehensive training for festival staff and vendors on preventing underage access and applying age-verification procedures on site.”
So, what’s happened here is that some adults went to an adult event and got some giveaway products and merchandise. Some of these adults may have put merch on their child, which is their choice to make, whatever you might think about the optics. BAT and JTI acted within the law, and it's worth noting that Guinness, Smirnoff, and White Claw partnered with the festival or even ran hospitality tents with complimentary drinks.
When youth safeguarding becomes adult censorship
That these events are being seized on by health groups and the media as a way to justify more regulations is not surprising. However, the outrage seems a little over the top.
Protecting minors from these kinds of promotions is good policy, but advertising and sales bans for adults are excessive, especially at events where alcohol is sold. The other thing that we should consider is that maybe 1% of Irish adults use pouches, with Health Ireland stating smoking prevalence in the country is 17%. Engaging this demographic and offering them low-friction pathways towards trying a harm-reduction product could help them quit cigarettes and help the creaking health care system.
In tobacco control and public health circles, the idea that tobacco companies even exist is seen as a problem. Each passing year, they make it harder for these businesses to operate through excise duty, hostile policy, and well-funded misinformation campaigns. But the thing is, they are providing a product that people want, and until people stop wanting nicotine, they should be allowed to operate like other businesses.
