Scene of the Crime: Big Tobacco Named Prime Suspect in Youth Vaping Epidemic
The Protect our Next movement is calling for action as South Africa’s youth vaping crisis continues to escalate, with Big Tobacco at the centre of mounting evidence. As part of The People vs. Big Tobacco campaign leading up to World No Tobacco Day on 31 May, Protect our Next has created a high-impact activation at Fourways Mall to expose how Big Tobacco is targeting teens with flavoured vapes, slick advertising, and unregulated nicotine delivery devices.
From 17th to 20th April, Protect our Next is hosting a bold, interactive pop-up experience at the mall called “Crime Scene 001: HOOKED” – exposing how Big Tobacco’s marketing fuels the youth vaping epidemic. The community is invited to “lay a charge” against Big Tobacco, adding their stories, testimonies, and evidence to make the case for urgent regulation.
Dr Sharon Nyatsanza, Deputy Director of the National Council Against Smoking (NCAS), says: “South Africa, it’s time to take a stand. If you’re a health professional, organisation, parent, learner, educator or citizen who sees the harm unfolding around our schools — you already know the truth. Vapes are being pushed into the hands of our youth. And we’re calling it what it is: a crime against the next generation.”
A crime scene unveiled
The activation transforms the Fourways Mall Food Court & Kids Zone into a symbolic crime scene, displaying:
- Evidence lockers with real-world data, youth statements, and confiscated vaping devices.
- The Witness Wall, where visitors can submit filmed and written witness statements documenting Big Tobacco’s tactics.
- Live testimony from young ambassadors in the Protect Our Next School Ambassador programme, experts, educators, government officials and communities
- Interactive, educational games
Joash Daniel of CART Agency explains the approach, “To break the cycle, we have to speak a language young South Africans can’t ignore. Creative, experiential activation highlights lets the youth see industry tactics for what they are—exploitation. South Africa is on the brink of passing the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill — a law that could finally protect young people from aggressive industry marketing and addiction engineering. This activation puts the bill, and the youth it aims to protect, directly in the public eye.”
A national public health crisis
The need for action could not be more urgent. According new research from the University of Cape Town, nearly 17% of learners use vapes, with 38.3% vaping daily and over half using them more than four days a week. Alarmingly, 88% of these vapes contain nicotine. Signs of addiction are prevalent, as 47% of teen vapers use their device within an hour of waking, 11.8% cannot get through a school day without vaping, and 24.9% experience anxiety or anger when unable to vape for extended periods.
UCT’s Professor Richard van Zyl-Smit, lead author of the study, warns: “The scale of dependence on nicotine we’re seeing in this research is unprecedented – even when compared to traditional cigarette use among teens. This is a new kind of epidemic, and we need both education and regulation to reverse the tide.”
Equally alarming findings emerge from the Big Tobacco, Tiny Targets study by the South African Tobacco-Free Youth Forum (SATFYF). Lesego Mateme of SATFYF says: “This research shows how deeply entangled Big Tobacco is in young lives. Nearly a quarter of retailers within 300m of schools sell e-cigarettes, and their placement and packaging are designed deliberately to attract children—with bright colours and enticing sweet flavours. This is not accidental. It’s adding fuel to a fire that’s burning through our youth.”
The crisis extends into universities, as the SAMRC’s National University Students Study reveals over one in four undergraduates currently use e-cigarettes, with heavy exposure to unregulated marketing. Prof Catherine Egbe, Senior Specialist Scientist in the Mental Health, Alcohol, Substance use and Tobacco Research Unit (MASTRU) at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) says:
“Aggressive marketing tactics are targeting impressionable young people, glamourising e-cigarettes and hookah. The urgent passing of the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill would restrict this and better protect our youth.”
The charge against Big Tobacco
Government and community leaders will on Wednesday attend the activation and ‘lay their charge’ against Big Tobacco, joining calls for Parliament to pass the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill without delay.
Professor Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, Head of the School of Health Systems and Public Health at the University of Pretoria, Director: National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) and the Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research (ATIM), makes the scientific case: “The high addiction levels we see are due in part to the nicotine salt formulations used in many vapes, which are even more addictive than traditional cigarettes. The US saw a similar spike in addiction when these formulations were introduced there. Effective regulation must address both how these products deliver nicotine and the ways they are marketed to young people.”
Dr Sharon Nyatsanza, Deputy Director of the National Council Against Smoking, adds: “This research is a sobering reflection of how we have failed to protect children from addiction. Nearly half of adolescent vapers use within an hour of waking, a marker of entrenched dependence. If Parliament does not act now by passing comprehensive regulation, we risk allowing a new generation to be lost to nicotine.”
Community call to action – the verdict rests with us all
Protect our Next calls on parents, community members, youth, and policymakers to visit Fourways Mall this week to submit their witness statements and evidence and demand swift passage of the Tobacco Control Bill to close regulatory loopholes and end predatory marketing. For those unable to attend, stories and statements can be submitted via @ProtectOurNext social channels.
“This is a community-driven movement demanding accountability,” says Lorraine Govender of CANSA. “Big Tobacco’s decades of interference, targeted marketing, and profit-driven denial have made them the prime suspect in this escalating public health crisis. The evidence is overwhelming. The time for action is now.”
