The Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea and the Institute for Health Promotion and Development will launch the first round of tobacco control campaigns for 2025 on April 24th, with a core focus on the prevention and control of vapes among teenagers. It is expected that follow-up tobacco control advertisements for the adult group will also be launched in the second half of this year.
Key points:
1. The Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea has launched the first round of tobacco control campaigns in 2025, with a focus on the use of vapes by teenagers.
2. Launch interactive promotional activities and online and offline communication mechanisms in a coordinated manner to enhance public participation.
3. The South Korean government will continue to launch follow-up tobacco control advertising campaigns targeting adult users in the future.
South Korea launches first round of tobacco control campaigns for 2025
According to N. News on April 23rd, the Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea and the Korea Health Promotion and Development Institute announced that they will officially launch the first round of tobacco control publicity activities in 2025 on April 24th. They will release advertisements centered on the prevention and control of vapes among teenagers and simultaneously carry out mass participation publicity activities.
The campaign, with the slogan “Don’t touch vapes (전담하지마)”, serves as a pun to convey the messages “Don’t use vapes” and “Don’t bear the risks associated with vapes alone”, highlighting the addiction risks and harms to teenagers’ health.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare pointed out that this advertisement intends to break the “trendy image” created by vape marketing. By using the daily life scenarios of teenagers, it aims to make them realize that vapes are not a “behavior worth imitating” but a “shameful behavior”.
According to the results of the “Adolescent Health Group Survey” by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, more than 60% of adolescent vape users eventually switch to traditional cigarettes.
Spotlight on Youth E-Cigarette Prevention and Control
The advertisement mainly targets the group of teenagers who are easily influenced by the marketing of the tobacco industry. By using the contrast technique of animation (presenting the “handsome image induced by imitation”) and real scenes (showing the “real and shameful reality”), it presents the scene of teenagers smoking vapes in the bathroom at home or on the roof of a building. Through visual impact, it strengthens cognition and then guides self-denial and behavioral inhibition. Achieve the purpose of prevention.
This round of anti-smoking advertisements will be widely disseminated from April 24th to June 23rd through online channels such as YouTube, social media, and OTT platforms, as well as outdoor advertising media like learning cafes and apartment elevators across the country. Terrestrial channel TV commercials will be aired from May 1st to May 31st.
In addition to advertising broadcasts. The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Institute for Health Promotion and Development have simultaneously launched an interactive online event titled “Don’t Touch vapes, vapes Are Not a Smoke-Free Life”, encouraging young people aged 10 to 20 to expand their promotional influence through participation.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to release the second and third rounds of tobacco control TV advertisements in the second half of this year. The second round of advertisements will promote smoking cessation information to adult vape users, while the third round will target smokers who have the intention to quit smoking and encourage them to use smoking cessation support services.
