Smoking becomes ‘huge turnoff’ for Brits amid cost of living crisis

More than half of smokers in the UK are ready to ditch cigarettes due to the cost of living, new research shows.

The price of cigarettes are set to up by 12.7 per cent, the government recently said in its crackdown to deter more people from smoking. Prices are going up for groceries in supermarkets too, so households are finding ways to reduce outgoings.

And research highlights 52 per cent of smokers are therefore willing to stop the habit, and use alternative nicotine products instead, such as nicotine pouches or vape.  

One in three British smokers admitted they would not be willing to switch to a cheaper brand of cigarettes – showing that nicotine alternatives are most definitely the preferred choice.

The survey, conducted by by tobacco-free alternatives Haypp, also found 40 per cent of Brits claimed that they would like clearer information on nicotine alternatives, and that by having this information it would help to reduce their consumption of cigarettes. 

The survey questioned British smokers more generally on the biggest motivations to quit and found that the top five reasons to quit were:

• To reduce the risk of serious illness 

• To save money/ spend less 

• To stop addictive behaviour 

• To stop having smelly breath and clothes

• Want to be able to do more exercise 

“We conducted this survey to uncover how the cost of living crisis and recent inflation will impact UK smokers, and whether the dramatic rise in price has been a huge turnoff for consumers, or not,” explained Markus Linblad, Director of Haypp.

“Whilst many Brits are really struggling at the moment, it is a silver lining that the crisis has increased the want of leaving a very unhealthy and costly habit like smoking behind.

“It is good to see that people would also be willing to swap to nicotine alternatives, such as pouches, which are known to be less harmful, more affordable and increase the chance of succeeding with kicking the cigarette habit.”