What started as a smoking cessation tool has been repackaged as a lifestyle product on TikTok, and a new study from the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus is documenting exactly how that transformation happened — and what it means for a generation of young people.
Dr. Laura Struik, Associate Professor at UBCO’s School of Nursing, analyzed 250 TikTok videos related to oral nicotine pouches. Those videos collectively generated more than 16.4 million likes, 114,000 comments, and nearly two million shares — numbers that underscore the scale of the platform’s influence on how young people perceive these products.
Pleasure, Not Prevention
The study, published in JMIR Formative Research, found that the vast majority of content portrayed pouch use as enjoyable, discreet, and socially desirable. Content creators showed pouches being used during everyday activities — exercising, working, socializing — to emphasize how seamlessly they fit into daily life. Some videos highlighted the ability to use multiple pouches simultaneously, effectively reframing a nicotine delivery product as a normal lifestyle accessory.
About 6% of the videos acknowledged health risks. The rest didn’t.
“One particular brand was framed as empowering, exclusive and socially desirable, where using the brand meant that you were part of a movement,” Dr. Struik noted in the study. That brand — ZYN — was associated with a specific hashtag used across videos to signal membership in a shared identity group.
Why Youth Are Especially Vulnerable
The timing couldn’t be more consequential. Adolescence is a critical period for identity formation, and Dr. Struik argues that nicotine pouch marketing exploits exactly that developmental window. When a product is framed as part of a desirable in-group identity, the appeal to teenagers exploring who they are is self-evident.
Prolonged use of oral nicotine pouches carries real health risks, including gum recession, tooth decay, harmful changes in oral bacteria, oral cancer, and cardiovascular issues. The CDC has been explicit: these products should not be used by youth, young adults, or pregnant women, and people who don’t currently use tobacco should not start.
“Social media serves as a powerful tool for the tobacco industry in normalizing the use of their products among youth,” Dr. Struik said. “They are not cessation products; they are nicotine addiction starters.” Her research suggests the industry understood TikTok’s reach before regulators did — and built a brand strategy around it.
