You Said We Did - Niche and Alternative Tobacco-use Consultation

We Asked

Tameside Public Health partnered with Diversity Matters North West to hear from people in Tameside to better understand niche and alternative forms of tobacco-use due to the lack of national, regional and local data on this.

We are aware that there are certain populations who are more likely to use alternative forms of tobacco. Therefore, understanding motivations, barriers and how to best support these populations to quit and/or prevent starting in the first place is key to reducing tobacco-use prevalence and tobacco-related harm. 

This consultation was co-developed and co-produced by people from racially minoritised communities to remove barriers to participation.

You Said

DMNW engaged with around 300 people from across Tameside though either completion of the online or paper survey or via engaging in workshops. 

Smoking and tobacco-use was high amongst racially minoritised communities in Tameside:

• 61% of respondents use tobacco cigarettes including roll ups 
• 37% use chewing tobacco/paan 
• 11% use Shisha

Consultation response themes:

Tobacco use:

• There were concerns from women over partners and family members heavy use of cigarettes and the rising trend of Shisha. 
• 98% of those who chew tobacco/paan were influenced by family and cultural acceptance 
• Many women did not realise that chewing tobacco can be an addiction
• Chewing paan was more prevalent with Bangladeshi women than men, but more prevalent amongst Pakistani men than women

Reasons for tobacco-use:

• The misconception of stress relief was often thought to be a benefit of tobacco products
• Cultural and social acceptability of smoking and alternative tobacco. 52% said they were influenced to start using tobacco products by peers, 32% influenced by family and 32% influenced by cultural acceptability 
• When asked about the barriers to quitting, 50% said it is part of socialising with friends, 36% said they enjoy smoking (mainly older male and females), 29% said it is the cultural norm within their family, and 27% said it helps them to deal with stress

Stop Smoking Services:

• The majority of participants from the workshops and online survey did not know the stop smoking service could help them to quit alternative tobacco products
• There was little awareness of the stop smoking service and of those that did, they felt it was not accessible for a variety of reasons 

Motivations to quit:

• A common motivation to quit was the impact of tobacco-use on the person using and those around them 
• Respondents did not realise how much they were spending on smoking/tobacco-use 
• Of those that wanted to quit, over half wanted to do so to improve their own health and over a third did not want their friends/family/children to be influenced
• 52% of those who chew tobacco/paan wanted to quit
• Over half of respondents wanted to quit tobacco use but over half said they had never access support to quit. Only 7% had accessed the Be Well stop smoking service. 

Communication and Engagement:

• All participants felt the best way to engage with their community was through targeted communication e.g., posters and other materials
• Materials to be bilingual
• Face to face interactions in local venues
• Adverts and videos 
• Language support within services they access helps people to better engage 
• A variety of language/translation options through a mix of bilingual materials is best for those who cannot read English or their own language

Support to quit to be in places that the community already attend, instead of expecting people to go to the support.

“We Did”

Throughout 2025, a social marketing agency was commissioned to work with DMNW to co-produce communications that sought to increase awareness of the support to quit, based on the responses from the consultation.

All communications and materials were co-produced and tested by people within Tameside’s racially minoritised communities, trough workshops and focus groups. This was to ensure they were culturally appropriate, available in the languages that people speak and read, and also to test and ensure the look and feel of the materials resonated and were appropriate to the community it is looking to target. 

The following materials have been created:

• Ad van advertising for advertising in community spaces and locations where the community attend 
• Billboard advertising
• Bus stop advertising – respondents felt seeing the advertising out in the community that matched to what they were seeing in posters and materials in community venues that they attend will help build familiarity and trust in the materials 
• Contact cards to be used in place of leaflets as the co-production found people did not want to take home bulky leaflets
• Tear off posters – this is another alternative to a bulky leaflet and is a discreet way for people to access information with quit support for them to take away 
• Posters to be placed in venues where the community attend 
• Digital screens for display in community venues
• Railing and pull up banners for promotion across Tameside and at events/activities 
• Social media artwork, in particular for younger people and for women who felt social media/communication platforms was an effective way for them to communicate and see the materials 

All assets have been translated into the following languages:

• Arabic
• Bangla
• English – including mix bilingual for all translations
• Farsi
• Gujarati
• Hindi
• Polish
• Swahili  
• Urdu 

Engagement activity has already taken place since the materials were finalised less than a month ago. Public Health and Be Well have already engaged with community venues and groups to host the materials in their venues, as well as attending Hyde Mela Event and are also planning on attending more events such as Culture Vibes in September. 

Public Health have also commissioned a range of marketing and advertising activity based on what and where the community have told us they would expect to see the materials, such as bus stops advertising, advertising on ad vans at community events alongside print of a range of posters, contact cards, pull up banners and railing banners for use across Tameside and paid for targeted google and social media advertising.

Public Health continue to work with partners across Tameside to roll out and disseminate the niche tobacco assets to encourage more people to quit smoking and tobacco use and access Be Well Tameside.