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Heated tobacco products (HTPs) were first introduced to the Japanese market in 2014, as a less harmful alternative to cigarettes.1 Since then, HTPs quickly gained popularity. In 2019, 27% and 8% of men and women, respectively, were current smokers; among whom, 20% of both men and women used HTPs exclusively, and 7% and 5% of men and women, respectively, used both HTPs and conventional cigarettes.2 The sales share of HTPs in 2019 was 24% of tobacco products.3 To understand how the tobacco industry has increased market share of HTPs so shortly in Japan, we examined the recent trend of tobacco advertising in newspapers and magazines. It is noted that Japan is a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, but tobacco ads …
Footnotes
Contributors MI conceived the study. All the authors designed the study. MI obtained and analysed the data. MI drafted the manuscript, which was then edited by AH, HI and TT. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.