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Are your kids lighting up? You may be surprised by the answer. Tobacco advertising is one of the most highly regulated forms of marketing and has been banned in various forms in the U.S. over the past 50 years. Yet the allure of cigarette smoking is still being promoted, especially to teens and children, in one of the least likely places – on their smartphones.
Public health researchers at the University of Sydney conducted an audit of Android and Apple app stores earlier this year and found 107 “pro-smoking” apps targeting young people through the use of games, cartoons, and photos. Perhaps the most blatant of these, virtual smoking apps, like Cigarettoid King Cigarette, Smoke Virtual Cigarette, and My Ashtray, mimic a very realistic cigarette being smoked down to ashes by users who hold the mobile device to their mouths. Background wallpaper apps featuring photos of celebrities or other attractive people smoking cigarettes, and cigarette-shaped battery widgets normalize images of cigarettes and can desensitize young people to smoking. Even games like Puff Puff Pass, which require users to pass the cigarette around a circle of cartoon characters, appeal to kids and illustrate what a fun activity smoking can be.
“Pro-smoking apps that show that smoking is ‘cool’ in a cartoon game, and provide a chance to explore the available cigarette brands and even simulate the smoking experience with high quality, free apps could potentially increase teens’ risk of smoking initiation,” stated the researchers in their report. Some of these apps, they say, violate the World Health Organization’s ban on tobacco advertising and may trigger cues for smoking, especially in younger audiences who spend so much time on their mobile devices.
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