Big Tobacco is facing headwinds over demand; and vaping may not help it keep its market share.
So much for lockdowns making us more health-conscious. Last week we saw Brits endure Arctic conditions for a pint. Now there’s data showing they’re smoking more too.
Market researcher Mintel found in a survey of 2,000 British adults last fall that more than half of cigarette users were stress smoking more than before the pandemic. Some 10 percent started smoking again after giving up. Overall, 30 percent of the smokers surveyed reported lighting up more regularly since the outbreak.
And the picture looks similar elsewhere: Many people in the U.S., as well as Canada, France, Israel and South Korea, have also said they are smoking more, according to Euromonitor International. After all, not only does working from home mean more smoke breaks, but add in the stress, isolation and boredom of lockdowns, and you have a recipe for good intentions going up in smoke.
Andrea Felsted – Bloomberg Opinion – 2021-04-24.