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** 29 August 2023
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** UK
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** Crystal Bar vape giant deletes TikTok after giveaway with no age verification (#1)
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** Nicotine pouches get top billing at festivals as disposable vapes banned (#2)
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** Gambling Firms Hit With Huge Increase in Fines as Industry Splashes out on MPs (#3)
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** One in three voters want a ban on gambling (#4)
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** UK
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** Crystal Bar vape giant deletes TikTok after giveaway with no age verification

The UK's second largest vape company took down social media accounts after sending vapes to reporters in an online giveaway without age verification.

Chinese government-owned SKE has seen rapid growth in sales of its Crystal Bar disposable vapes, which have been criticised for appealing to children.

In an exclusive interview SKE marketing director Serge Davies said the accounts were taken down for a "review". SKE also apologised for not signing up to government recycling schemes.

SKE, the partly state-owned Chinese company which makes Crystal Bar, is now the second biggest seller of vapes in the UK, with sales figures thought to be over 100 million.

Giving away free samples has been a key part of its rise - last month it ran an online giveaway on the Discord instant messaging platform, promoted via its Instagram feed. Discord began as a platform for gamers and has a large number of under-18 users.

BBC reporters entered the competition. They were asked to state that they were over 18, but no further verification was required. Two vapes were then sent in the post. It is illegal to sell vapes to anyone under 18.

After the BBC contacted SKE, some of its social media accounts were taken down pending a "review", including its YouTube and TikTok channels.

MP Steve Brine, chair of the health select committee, said: "It is extremely concerning to hear that vapes could easily fall into the hands of children because proper checks are not being made.

"Responsible manufacturers should not be using giveaway schemes that can act as a green light to children to begin vaping when what they need is protection from potentially harmful effects."

Source: BBC News, 26 August 2023
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** See Also: ASH Resources on Youth Vaping ([link removed])
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** Nicotine pouches get top billing at festivals as disposable vapes banned

While disposable vapes have been banned from Reading and Leeds festivals over environmental concerns, a new craze has been taking over this year’s summer celebrations. Nicotine pouches — flavoured sachets that you tuck under your lip — are available everywhere festivalgoers might look to buy cigarettes or vapes.

Nordic Spirit is the “official nicotine pouch partner” of Reading Festival this year and has its own tent in which staff give out free samples. The company has partnered with many of this year’s largest summer parties, including the Isle of Wight Festival, Creamfields, Boomtown and Parklife.

The marketing approach bears similarity with cigarette campaigns of yore, a health campaigner said.

Hazel Cheeseman, the deputy chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said: “It is unsurprising that this tobacco company are promoting their addictive nicotine pouches at music festivals with young and underage audiences.

“It is exactly what they used to be allowed to do with cigarettes. While nicotine pouches are certainly less harmful than smoking, they are still addictive products that should have an age of sale and rules around who they can be marketed to.

Government should act to address this at the same time as they consider further regulations around vaping products.”

Those who haven’t managed to get a ticketto any of Nordic Spirit’s partner festivals can still get a free sample of their products from the company’s website, where they offer a choice of three different strengths of nicotine-laced gum and six different flavours from spearmint to elderflower.

In the UK, unlike e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches are not classed as tobacco-related products and can be legally sold to under-18s, though Nordic Spirit has not made its products available to under-18s at Reading Festival. They can also be advertised across social media, where vapes typically cannot.

While the company’s name might hint at a Scandinavian origin, it is a brand of Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which also manufactures Camel and Benson & Hedges cigarettes.
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** Source: The Times, 26 August 2023
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** See Also: Tobacco Tactics page on Nicotine Pouches ([link removed])
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Read Here ([link removed].)


** Gambling Firms Hit With Huge Increase in Fines as Industry Splashes out on MPs

There has been a surge in the amount of fines dished out to gambling companies at the same time as they have poured huge amounts into corporate hospitality for MPs, Byline Times analysis can reveal.

According to analysis of official figures, betting firms have received 31,500% more in financial penalties in the last three years than they did during the same period of time a decade ago.

Since the start of 2020, rulings from the Gambling Commission, the industry regulator, show that the industry was hit with over £138m in fines and other penalties. In that same period ten years ago (2010-2013), the Commission handed out just under £438,000 in penalties to those same companies.

However, as fines for the industry hit a record high, the gambling industry’s lobbying arms have allowed it to “become one of the best connected sectors in Westminster”.
In April the government released a new, and long-awaited White Paper outlining proposed reforms to the gambling industry.

It included plans for a statutory levy of an estimated £150m to pay for addiction research, education and treatment, limits for the amount you can bet in online slots and independent affordability checks to ensure there are interventions for those losing more than they can afford.

It fell short of proposing wider reforms to the advertising and promotion of the gambling industry (which firms spend upwards of a billion pounds on a year), a reform many groups had campaigned for – even to the extent of pressuring the Premier League into agreeing to ban front-of-shirt gambling sponsors from the 2026/27 season.

Campaigners Byline Times spoke to felt there was still progress that needed to be made.

“The increase in fines is concerning but not surprising, given that the online gambling industry’s business model is based on addiction. Fines have become a cost of doing business as it’s far cheaper to pay them than it is to change”, said Will Prochaska, strategy director of campaign group Gambling with Lives.

Source: Byline Times, 23 August 2023
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** One in three voters want a ban on gambling

A third of people would like to see gambling banned, research has found, as it was suggested that voters support so-called “nanny state” measures to improve public health.

A report by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) think tank says that British people are in favour of stricter rules and regulations and want ministers to take action on issues including obesity, alcohol, diet and exercise.

The research, which looked at opinion polls published since the start of 2015, found that the policies most likely to be supported were those that benefited children or restricted gambling.

The think tank spoke of a “mounting public health crisis” in which 40 per cent of premature deaths are linked to smoking, drinking, poor diet or lack of exercise.
Dr Aveek Bhattacharya, interim director at the think tank, said: “The most effective ways to reduce obesity, harmful drinking, smoking and problem gambling are the most daunting to politicians, who are understandably worried about the potential backlash to banning, taxing and regulating.

“Yet policymakers seeking to do the right thing to save lives and improve our health should take encouragement from the fact that most people recognise the scale of the problem and are in fact supportive of these sorts of measures.”

Among the most popular measure were introducing licences for businesses to sell tobacco which could be removed if they sell to children, banning betting with credit cards, making fruit and vegetables cheaper than unhealthy foods, and limiting children’s exposure to alcohol advertising on social media.

Source: The Times, 28 August 2023

See the full briefing from the Social Market Foundation ‘A bitter taste? Exploring the political constraints on public health policies’: [link removed]

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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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