Today’s tobacco marketing targeting women increasingly relies on digital culture and lifestyle branding rather than traditional advertising. In Kenya, female university students have higher shisha usage than males.
There’s a quiet contradiction playing out across East Africa. Most Kenyans and Rwandans say women smoking is unacceptable, yet a surprising number of women are doing it anyway, often quietly, often unnoticed. New research by Gatefield across five African countries shows that there is an epidemic and points to why: tobacco companies have been quietly marketing to women across the region, and it’s working, partly because the stigma keeps the habit hidden rather than stopping it.
The disapproval is strong on the surface; 88 per cent of Kenyans and 89 per cent of Rwandans surveyed say women smoking is completely unacceptable, but the numbers tell a different story. Among the 100 women interviewed, 34 per cent in Kenya and 22 per cent in Rwanda said they use tobacco. Most stick to traditional cigarettes, 85 per cent in Kenya and 80 per cent in Rwanda, but newer products are catching on fast, with 25 per cent of Kenyan users trying shisha and 20 per cent using e-cigarettes or vapes.
This is evidence of a calculated industry playbook designed to normalise nicotine dependence in societies where smoking among women is considered culturally unacceptable. By exploiting critical regulatory gaps, the tobacco industry is popularising addiction among females on a continent where 22,000 women are dying annually from tobacco use. To dismantle deep-rooted cultural taboos and bypass severe social stigma, tobacco corporations are starting to rely heavily on identity repositioning, framing tobacco and nicotine use as a symbol of modern independence.
Historically, tobacco corporations have focused on expanding their global markets by targeting female demographics. Throughout the 20th century in Europe and the United States, advertisements depicted cigarettes as emblems of liberty, most notably branding them as “torches of freedom” in a prominent 1920s public relations drive. Public health investigators have shown that these initiatives substantially increased smoking among women in Western regions.
Currently, international health authorities caution that a similar approach is surfacing across Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that tobacco firms increasingly view low- and middle-income nations as essential expanding territories for tobacco industry markets. About 80 per cent of global smokers are now located in these nations, which frequently feature younger populations and less robust regulatory frameworks.
What makes the current expansion strategy different is how it is executed. Gatefield’s research shows that tobacco marketing targeting women increasingly relies on digital culture and lifestyle branding rather than traditional advertising.
Tobacco firms exploit social media influencers to promote nicotine products via lifestyle posts, live feeds
In terms of digital culture, the tobacco industry heavily exploits online platforms like TikTok and Instagram, utilising social media influencers to promote nicotine products subtly through lifestyle posts, product placements, and live feeds that demonstrate product usage, even peddling these products as safe alternatives to traditional cigarettes.
The African continent presents a particularly appealing market. While male smoking rates average 21 per cent, female smoking prevalence stands at only three per cent, representing 13 million women who smoke in the region. Rather than viewing this low figure as a public health achievement, the tobacco sector perceives this discrepancy as a massive, unexploited market.
The tobacco industry has identified young African women, particularly those aged 18 to 24, as a critical growth market. Lifestyle branding is strategically executed by co-opting feminist ideals, framing tobacco use as a symbol of autonomy, power, and independence. In cultures where smoking among women is considered a deep-rooted cultural taboo, the empowerment message is particularly alluring.
In Rwanda, female smoking is such a strong cultural taboo that women have reported family rejection or violence as a response to tobacco use. As one survey respondent from Rwanda said: “I decided to leave my family and start now having my own house. It was due to smoking. Once they found me smoking, they said to me, ‘Go away.’… So currently, I live alone with my son because the family has chased me away because of smoking.”
To infiltrate the influence of culture, the industry relies on identity repositioning to target the female population, deliberately co-opting feminist ideals and framing smoking as a symbol of autonomy. In Kenya, female university students have higher shisha usage than males. As one Kenyan tobacco control advocate noted, “women who smoke are perceived to be tough…they tend to want to smoke to prove that ‘we are just like men. We are powerful.’”
Emerging nicotine delivery systems are engineered to mimic lip gloss, nail polish, children’s toys in pink and purple
To bypass social stigma, the industry is redesigning its products. Emerging nicotine delivery systems are engineered to mimic cosmetics, appearing in the shape of lip gloss, nail polish, or even children’s toys, and are wrapped in feminine colours like pink and purple. Thirty-three per cent of users identified that they use nicotine pouches because of its female friendly appearance, with 100 per cent of users using them because it is fashionable.
Infused with sweet flavours such as strawberry, mint, and vanilla, these products mask tell-tale odours and give the illusion of reduced harm while making addiction easier and highly discreet. A Rwandan tobacco user highlighted this stealth tactic regarding a popular cigarette brand: “They like it because of the smell; no one can know that you smoke. It is a modern one, which does not smell.”
The industry also embeds these products into youth-dominated social environments. Through proximity marketing at nightclubs, bars, and parties, where women are likely to face less judgment for public tobacco and nicotine use in Kenya, nightclubs specifically cater to young adults aged 18 to 24 and serve as prime locations for tobacco promotions. This proximity marketing drives exposure, with 59 per cent of surveyed Kenyan women reporting tobacco marketing encounters in nightclubs and bars, and 42 per cent at parties. In Rwanda, parties (37 per cent) and nightclubs (31 per cent) serve a similar function.
This aggressive cultural infiltration is made possible by regulatory loopholes. On paper, both countries offer legal protection. Kenya has comprehensive laws banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS). Rwanda upholds a strict policy against smoking in public and has even placed a ban on shisha or water pipes. Rwanda also restricts free samples, limits corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, and bans shisha.
However, enforcement and scope limitations have reduced their practical effectiveness. Poorly regulated media exposure amplifies the industry’s message. The digital and entertainment landscapes are flooded with tobacco imagery. In Kenya, 84 per cent of surveyed women report seeing tobacco content on TV shows and streaming platforms like Netflix and Showmax.
Influencers on social media promote e-cigarettes and shisha, bypassing advertising bans to target young women
Kenya’s narrow definition of tobacco as “any product made wholly or partially from the tobacco plant” leaves loopholes for CSR and sponsorship, while explicit bans on social media marketing fail to adequately address emerging products like e-cigarettes. Rwanda’s laws do not extend to cross-border TAPS and point-of-sale advertising: The study reports that 69 per cent of Rwandan respondents viewed tobacco imagery on TV and streaming platforms, and e-cigarette kiosks are situated near university campuses and retail outlets close to schools. Consequently, influencers on platforms like TikTok and Instagram freely promote e-cigarettes and shisha, bypassing conventional advertising bans to directly target young women.
Kenya and Rwanda cannot remain reactive while nicotine dependence is structurally embedded into the lives of young women. Reversing this trend requires modernisation of the law. Tobacco control policies must be women-centred, accounting for the unique ways the tobacco industry targets women and girls. Current policies should go beyond general regulations to include comprehensive bans on flavoured tobacco and nicotine products, as well as colourful packaging designed to appeal to women and girls. These gender-competent approaches should address specific marketing channels, including digital media, influencer promotions, and proximity marketing near schools and universities that increases young women’s exposure to tobacco.
When regulations address the unique vulnerabilities of this demographic through targeted information, education, and communications campaigns that counter industry narratives, women will be empowered to make informed health choices. Because new and emerging products are intentionally designed to appeal to feminine sensibilities, policymakers must introduce strict regulations mandating graphic labels showcasing their harmful effects to dismantle the glamour associated with smoking and curb misleading harm-reduction communication tactics.
Regulators must collaborate to extend TAPS bans to encompass all digital platforms, social media influencers, and international streaming services. Social and digital media transcend boundaries. To effectively counter this, tobacco advertising laws must be regularly updated in alignment with the WHO FCTC COP10 guidelines on Article 13, introducing stricter controls on tobacco depictions across social media, movies, and video games.
Campaign messages should counter the image of smoking as freedom, expose health harms
Rather than focusing strictly on individual influencers, regulatory frameworks should prioritise platform accountability by holding powerful tech companies responsible for detecting, labelling, or removing prohibited marketing content, an approach that can be drawn from the EU’s Digital Services Act model. Finally, regional regulatory bodies must actively collaborate, exchange critical information, and coordinate cross-border enforcement efforts to ensure tobacco companies cannot exploit weak points or local regulatory gaps within the digital ecosystem.
The tobacco industry is exploiting the breach made by the cultural rejection of female smokers, especially in Rwanda. Public health campaigns must promote ideals that both challenge the industry’s harmful narratives and encourage practices that protect rather than endanger women. Campaign messages should counter the image of smoking as freedom and expose the health harms of both traditional cigarettes and emerging nicotine products. A strong shift in narrative will sever the false link between smoking and empowerment, while protecting women’s health and wellbeing.
The time for half-measures has passed. A decisive expansion of the legal definition of tobacco to include all emerging nicotine products will close the digital loopholes and enforce meaningful penalties. Most importantly, it will protect the health and future of women from industry tactics and prevent a public health crisis.
The writer, Celine Awuor, is the CEO of the International Institute for Legislative Affairs (IILA), a leading tobacco control organisation in Kenya and the primary architect of Kenya’s modern legislative fight against tobacco and youth nicotine addiction.
