Smoking avatars and online games: how big tobacco targets young people in the metaverse

Avatars smoke in an image shared on social media of a gathering in the metaverse. A packet of Djarum LA cigarettes, an Indonesian brand, sit on the table. Photograph: iceperience.id Instagram via Canary

In the image, a group of friends is standing in a bar, smoke winding upwards from the cigarettes in their hands. More lie in an open packet on the table between them. This is not a photograph taken before smoking bans, but a picture shared on social media of a gathering in the metaverse.

Virtual online spaces are becoming a new marketing battleground as tobacco and alcohol promoters target young people without any legislative consequences.