With permission from Screenagers producer and MHYP member, Lisa Tabb, we are reprinting this important article, How ZYN's Social Media Strategy is Driving Teen Nicotine Addiction, originally posted August 27, 2024 by Delaney Ruston, MD.
This week’s episode of The Screenagers Podcast features a conversation with leading tobacco industry researcher Dr. Robert Jackler (who is in Screenagers Under The Influence, talking about JUUL’s marketing tactics) about ZYN, the oral nicotine pouches showing up all over social media. And it got a bit emotional for me.
As a doctor, I often see people struggling with some form of addiction. It’s a vicious cycle from which big tobacco companies make big money.
Dr. Jackler and I speak about the dangers of ZYN and nicotine pouches in general, how companies sneak into the social media feeds of teens and young adults with hashtags entirely unrelated to nicotine products, and how to help those already hooked.
ZYN, named to sound like Zen, is being pushed as a harm-reduction alternative to cigarettes. Yet, in reality, they are another product being marketed to adolescents with deceptive tactics to get them hooked on Big Tobacco products. Below, I share part of my conversation with Dr. Jackler.
By the way, the episode is less than 20 minutes long, and I believe it is a gift to share it with kids ages 10 and up.
Excerpt from our conversation:
DR: Dr. Jackler… How did you become the leading researcher in the tobacco industry?
RJ: About 20 years ago, mid-career, I became very interested in how the tobacco industry recruits its customers. And how it goes after teenagers, how it goes after women, how it goes after minoritized populations like African Americans and Latinos.
And why was that important to me as a physician? Because there is but one leading cause of preventable death and disease in the population of America, and that is tobacco use.
DR: Tell me what's going on with these nicotine pouches (like ZYN).
RJ: There are little pillows, ground-up tobacco, and white nicotine pouches that don't even have ground-up tobacco leaves.
Reflecting on the surge of electronic cigarettes that began around 2015 with JUUL, we're seeing a very similar trajectory for a particular product of these pouches called ZYN. And what's happening is these emerging nicotine delivery products are being heavily used by nicotine-naive teenagers who've never before gotten hooked.
DR: I don't know the exact numbers, but can you speak a little about this epidemic of these pouches?
RJ: It's a synonym for Zen. Find your ZYN. Over and over, they suggest that it will make you peaceful and calm. It is the "pharmaceuticalization" of the advertising of ZYN that it somehow calms you, it makes you mellow, it favorably changes your mood. And it's utter nonsense. All that nicotine does is make you crave it and feel absolutely miserable if you don't get it.
DR: As you were speaking, I got teary-eyed, and I had to stop the tears because I work with so many people facing addictions, young people and older people. And for those who haven't experienced addiction, living under that chain is such a burden and so painful. One of the things that we do know also is that many people who do start with just these kinds of products do then incorporate the cigarettes later on.
RJ: Nicotine addiction in teenagers has effects that rewire the adolescent developing brain. It leads to behavioral problems, deterioration of school performance, and all sorts of serious problems. The Surgeon General of the U.S. recognizes that. These kinds of lasting changes in the developing brain continue through age 25. And almost all people who are going to be smokers have started by the age of 25.
Listen to the full episode at the YouTube video above or wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts // Spotify // YouTube // Website
Tune into the full episode for more of my conversation with Dr. Jackler, including what you can do to help someone, especially teens, break their nicotine addiction. It’s worth listening to with your teens.
Here are some questions to start a conversation with the adolescents in your life at home or school to raise awareness about the dangers of ZYN and nicotine pouches.
Have you seen ads for ZYN or other nicotine products in your social media feeds?
What do you think of them? Do you find them exciting or gross?
Are you aware of how nicotine affects your mood, physical health, and ability to concentrate in school?
What should you do if someone offers you a ZYN or other nicotine product?