ZYN's Continuity Program Promoted on Social Media Sources from 2020-2025

Continuity programs are a marketing strategy that use proof-of-purchase to redeem points that can be exchanged for prizes. Tobacco companies that sell nicotine pouches use continuity programs to promote their products, including the brand leader, ZYN (Philip Morris International). The purpose of this study was to characterize social media advertisements about ZYN's continuity program.

Social media advertisements about 'ZYN Rewards' (n=55) posted between 2020-2025 were accessed via Stanford's Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising (SRITA) website and ZYN's Facebook and Instagram accounts. Following codebook development and establishing coder reliability, three independent coders annotated advertisements for features, including continuity programs, product features (flavor, nicotine strength), warnings, and other visual cues (e.g., presence of alcohol).

Among advertisements in our sample, 87.3% displayed prizes, which were categorized into technology (36.4%; e.g., Apple products, camera) and adventurer items (32.7%; e.g., coolers, tents, grills). A quarter of the prizes included the ZYN branded logo, including clothing (14.5%). Advertisements often (92.7%) included a nicotine addiction warning label, and 89.1% mentioned the minimum legal sales age for sale and participation in the continuity program. Nicotine strengths were displayed in 21.8% of the advertisements. Flavors were displayed (36.4%), with cool mint (10.9%) and wintergreen (9.1%) portrayed most often.

Nicotine pouch continuity programs promote prizes that resemble those once used for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. As the tobacco industry recycles past marketing strategies to promote emerging nicotine products, researchers and policymakers should monitor appeal among young populations.