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Nicotine billboards skirt tobacco restrictions, advertising 'appeals to youth'

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Published  July 14, 2025 6:28pm CDT
Health
FOX 9
Nicotine billboards on Minnesota highways

Nicotine billboards on Minnesota highways

Tobacco billboards disappeared from the Minnesota landscape 27 years ago, but nicotine is speeding back into sight on the state?s highways. FOX 9?s Corin Hoggard has the details on ads you might soon be seeing.

The Brief

    • Billboards advertising nicotine pouches have appeared on Minnesota highways, avoiding restrictions on tobacco advertising because they're not tobacco, just the addictive chemical from tobacco.
    • Early research indicates nicotine pouches may not be quite as dangerous as cigarettes and chewing tobacco, but many of them have cancer-causing chemicals. They're also highly addictive and known to create other health risks.
    • One state senator who helped get tobacco advertising removed in 1998 is considering a push to restrict the billboards.

(FOX 9) - Tobacco billboards disappeared from the Minnesota landscape 27 years ago, but nicotine is speeding back into sight on the highway.

Nicotine ads

Avoiding restrictions:

Ads for nicotine pouches are popping up.

At least for now, the billboards get around the tobacco advertising ban because it’s not tobacco. It’s just the addictive chemical from tobacco.

Kid-friendly nicotine?

Appealing, addictive, alarming:

A new craze for kids comes in brightly colored cans with flavored little white pouches you put between your cheek and gum.

"They are easy to use, they're flavored, they are easy to hide, to be discreet, and they give you a big bang," said Pat McKone of the American Lung Association.

Nicotine pouches deliver the equivalent of at least three cigarettes.

Early research shows they may not be as bad as cigarettes or chewing tobacco, but a lot of them contain cancer-causing chemicals and they’re highly addictive. 

They can cause lung and stomach problems, increase blood pressure and heart rate, and narrow arteries, which can lead to heart attacks.

But by 2023, more than 5% of Minnesota high schoolers reported using nicotine pouches, the number rising to 7% outside of the Twin Cities Metro. 

"They're very popular with youth," McKone said. "And that doesn't just happen. A product like that needs clever, appealing advertising."

Product placement

'Should've seen it coming':

Social media is where a lot of kids first found brands like Zyn, made by Philip Morris, and Loon, which is a Minnesota product.

These days, Loon’s advertising is out in the open as you’re driving along 494 or 280.

"The idea that we're selling people addictive, highly addictive products," said Sen. John Marty, (DFL-Roseville). "We're marketing it in ways that are attractive to kids, that's a big problem."

State Sen. John Marty has pushed to curb tobacco smoking and advertising since he joined the legislature in 1987 and he’s partly responsible for the 1998 tobacco billboard restriction.

"Absolutely interested in this," Sen. Marty said. "It's not a surprise they'll stoop to any level to and addict more people and they continue to do it. And I guess we should have seen this one coming, but I think we should be trying to get rid of this as well."

In defense of pouches

The other side:

Loon didn’t respond to FOX9 requests for comment Monday, but people in the industry have previously defended the products by saying they help people quit more dangerous products like cigarettes and chewing tobacco.

HealthCrime and Public Safety