Intensified advertising of heated tobacco products in Japan: an apparent shift in marketing strategy

Correspondence to Professor Masao Ichikawa, Department of Global Public Health, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8577, Japan; [email protected]

Received February 25, 2021; revision received April 12, 2021; Accepted April 24, 2021

Contributors MI conceived the study. All the authors designed the study. MI obtained and analysed the data. MI drafted the manuscript, which was then edited by AH, HI and TT. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests None declared.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

Acknowledgments We thank MRS Advertising Research for their data provision.

Data availability statement All data are available from the corresponding author on request.

Patient consent for publication Not required.