Cultural commodities alongside commercial tobacco targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia

This Ad Watch raises concern over the use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural commodities and imagery prominently displayed and sold alongside commercial tobacco and nicotine products. In March 2025, two tobacconists in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland (QLD) prominently displayed Indigenous artwork, fishing shirts featuring Indigenous designs, and the Aboriginal flag (figure 1). These cultural items function as prominent visual merchandising to promote tobacco and nicotine products, commodifying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity and reinforcing ongoing colonial harms. The intentional placement and display are not merely an aesthetic choice but a conscious strategy to decorate addiction and link cultural identity, safety and well-being with commercial tobacco and nicotine.