As governments promote anti-addiction campaigns, tobacco and nicotine products continue to be normalised through lifestyle culture and weak enforcement, leaving young people caught in a dangerous contradiction
Peter F. Borges
Every year on World No Tobacco Day, we post warnings, share statistics, conduct rallies, upload awareness posters and repeat the same line: “Say No to Tobacco.” But somewhere between policy and profit, the message gets lost in smoke.
This year, the World Health Organization’s theme, ‘Unmasking the Appeal’, feels especially relevant. Tobacco today is no longer just about cigarettes. It is about strategy, design, flavours, glamour, influence and algorithms. Addiction is being packaged as lifestyle. And if we are honest, many young people in Goa are already caught in it.
As someone who regularly conducts awareness sessions in schools and colleges on substance abuse, one question from students has stayed with me for years: “Sir, if cigarettes and tobacco are so harmful, why doesn’t the government ban them?” It is a question that deserves an honest answer.
Children are smart enough to notice the contradiction adults often ignore. On one side, we speak about a Nasha Mukt Bharat. On the other, tobacco products remain legally available almost everywhere. We warn adolescents about nicotine addiction while cigarette counters sit beside chocolate shelves.
We ban e-cigarettes under the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act (PECA), yet vaping devices continue to circulate openly among school-going children in Goa. We condemn addiction but allow surrogate advertising of pan masala and tobacco-linked brands to dominate public spaces, events and even sports sponsorships.
So what exactly are we fighting? Addiction itself, or merely the image of addiction?
The WHO campaign this year exposes how the tobacco and nicotine industry deliberately designs products to attract young people. Flavoured vapes, stylish devices, colourful packaging and influencer-driven marketing create a sense of “coolness” disguised as consumer choice. This is not accidental marketing. It is engineered addiction.
Nicotine alters the developing adolescent brain. It affects attention, impulse control, mood regulation and long-term dependency patterns. The younger the initiation, the stronger the addiction pathway. Yet vaping among adolescents is often dismissed casually, as though it is simply “harmless smoke” or “better than cigarettes”. It is neither harmless nor innocent.
In many school interactions, students openly speak about how easily vaping devices are available despite the law. Some know the flavours better than the risks. Others genuinely believe vaping is safe because it smells fruity and looks modern. That is the frightening reality.
Addiction no longer smells dangerous. It smells like mint, bubblegum and blueberry ice.
Meanwhile, the industry evolves faster than regulation. Goa reflects this contradiction sharply. We proudly market ourselves as a tourism and lifestyle destination, but somewhere within that ecosystem, substance normalisation becomes invisible. Children grow up watching alcohol, smoking and nicotine use woven into celebrations, nightlife, music festivals and social media culture. Then we act surprised when teenagers experiment.
During my tenure as Chairperson of the Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, I raised concerns about surrogate advertising linked to pan masala and tobacco products. One intervention led to the removal of promotional displays from Kadamba Transport Corporation buses. Another illuminated hoarding along the River Mandovi was eventually removed after objections were raised. But the reality remains simple: remove one hoarding and ten digital advertisements appear elsewhere. The industry has shifted from walls to screens.
Today’s advertising is subtler, smarter and more manipulative. It appears through influencers, music videos, gaming culture, lifestyle branding and celebrity associations. The product is nicotine. The packaging is aspiration. That is exactly what WHO means by ‘Unmasking the Appeal’.
The campaign urges governments to strengthen regulation through plain packaging, advertising bans, higher taxes, tobacco-free public spaces and stronger quitting support systems.
But awareness alone will not solve this crisis. We cannot place the entire burden on adolescents while adults, corporations and systems continue enabling addiction economically and culturally.
If tobacco causes enormous health burdens including cancers, heart disease, respiratory illness, financial stress on families and pressure on public healthcare systems, then why do tobacco products remain deeply embedded within economies?
That is the moral contradiction young people are questioning, and rightly so. Prevention campaigns lose credibility when policy sends mixed signals.
You cannot tell a child “Tobacco kills” while allowing surrogate branding to dominate cricket tournaments, music events and public spaces. You cannot celebrate anti-drug campaigns while normalising substances that kill millions globally every year. Public health cannot compete with billion-dollar industries unless governments are willing to confront influence, lobbying and economic dependency.
Goa needs stronger conversations, not cosmetic observances once a year. Schools need structured nicotine and vaping awareness programmes, not one-time lectures. Parents need to recognise that vaping devices are already entering adolescent spaces. Enforcement agencies must take PECA violations seriously. Online promotion and delivery systems require tighter monitoring. Youth-focused cessation support must become accessible and stigma-free. Most importantly, adults must stop glamorising addiction in front of children while preaching against it. Children notice everything. They notice the contradictions, the hypocrisy and the silence.
World No Tobacco Day should not become another social media observance filled with slogans and forgotten hashtags. It should force us to ask difficult questions: Who benefits from addiction? Why are harmful products still normalised? Why are adolescents becoming targets? And why are we still surprised when the next generation gets hooked?
If we genuinely want a Nasha Mukt Bharat, then the fight cannot be selective. Addiction does not care whether it comes wrapped in a cigarette pack, a vape pen or a shiny pan masala advertisement glowing over a city skyline. Neither should our conscience.
(The writer is an assistant professor of Social Work at Goa University, founder of Human Touch Foundation and former chairperson of the Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights)
