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Sunday, September 2, 2018

Big Tobacco Accused of Using Social Media ‘Influencers’ to Target Youth


Barred by law from almost all forms of traditional advertising in the U.S., tobacco companies are now aggressively using social media platforms to market cigarettes to a new generation of potential smokers, an anti-tobacco group is charging.
A 2-year investigation conducted by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) and the online research firm Netnografica, targeting four multinational tobacco giants, alleges that all four violated their own internal marketing standards by using Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms to target young people online with cigarette marketing.
Specifically, the investigation found evidence that social media “influencers” with large online followings of young people are being paid to post images of cigarettes and smoking in dozens of countries. The young influencers reported receiving payment for posting photos featuring specific cigarette brands. The influencers also reported receiving training on which cigarette brands to promote, when to post pictures for maximum exposure, and how to take photos that looked natural and not like staged advertisements.
CTFK, along with the American Heart Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and seven other public health groups, have asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to order tobacco companies to disclose that their social media campaigns are paid advertising for tobacco products by including the hashtags “#Sponsored,” “#Promotion,” or “#Ad” in the content.
The petition, filed late last week, charged that Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International, and Imperial Brands are violating federal law by marketing to minors in the United States through social media.
A Philip Morris International media relations manager, Corey Henry, insisted to MedPage Today that the company does not market any products in the United States, “whether on social media or otherwise.”
“We have been absolutely clear that we are building our future on smoke-free products that are a better choice than continuing to smoke cigarettes,” he said. “Our vision is that these products replace cigarettes as soon as possible.”
“Our global marketing standards follow four core principles, for all of our products worldwide,” Henry said: “1 – We market and sell our products to adult smokers; 2 – We warn consumers about the health effects of our products; 3 – Our marketing must be honest and accurate; and 4 – We respect the law. None of our marketing is aimed at recruiting new smokers.”
But the investigation found evidence that Philip Morris International, which makes and markets the world’s leading cigarette brand, Marlboro, has engaged in social media influencer campaigns in multiple countries, including Indonesia and Uruguay.
“[Philip Morris International] is the company that proclaims the loudest about its desire for a smoke-free future, but we found them running these social media campaigns in 29 different countries,” CTFK President Matthew Myers told MedPage Today.
In the United States, the FTC has rules against paying someone to endorse a product without disclosing that fact, which is why CTFK and the other health groups petitioned the agency to address the issue of paid media influencers.
But Myers noted that since country boundaries mean little in the social media universe, influencer campaigns originating outside the U.S. are routinely seen by American youth.
The investigation concluded that tobacco company-initiated social media campaigns have been viewed more than 25 billion times worldwide, including 8.8 billion times in the United States.
“We identified campaigns in 40 different countries,” Myers said. “In countries where English is not spoken, most of these campaigns were still in English.”
Robin Koval, president and CEO of the anti-tobacco group Truth Initiative, told MedPage Today that the report is “more proof that the industry’s rhetoric about a smoke-free world is just blowing smoke.”
“These latest exploits of secretly paying social media influencers to do the tobacco companies’ dirty work will likely backfire once young people know the truth revealed in this report,” she said. “Influencers who are willing to go on the industry’s deadly payroll to sell cigarettes through social media are putting both their reputations, and most importantly the lives of their young fans, at risk.”

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