A report accuses four giants of the tobacco industry of using “influencers” on social networks to advertise themselves to younger generations.
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat… Social networks are now an integral part of teenagers’ lives, and the tobacco industry has understood this well. According to a long investigation Led by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) and online research firm Netnografica, multinationals are now using photos of influencers to place their products. By doing so, marketing strategists are promoting their brand of cigarettes, without having to signal that it is advertising.
Training on the brands of cigarettes to promote
“The posts include tobacco products in the images, which are indistinguishable from the daily content of an influencer. Tobacco companies don’t tell influencers to include #ad (advertising, editor’s note) in their messages, which avoids being identified by the official advertising systems of social media platforms, “criticizes the report.” Hashtags like #likeus Where #nighthunters are in fact the advertising campaigns of British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International. “
In addition to being paid by the tobacco industry, many influencers have reported receiving training on which brands of cigarettes to promote, when to post photos for maximum exposure, and how to take their shots. so they look natural and don’t look like advertisements.
Violate Federal Law
A petition, filed at the end of last week, therefore accuses Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Brands of violating federal law, by marketing to American minors via social networks.
The American Heart Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and seven other public health organizations have also called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to order tobacco companies to disclose the remuneration of influencers, and to include influencers. The hashtags “#Sponsored” (sponsored), “#Promotion” (promotion) or “#Ad” (advertisement) in the published photos.
73,000 deaths each year
“Philip Morris International is the company that proclaims its desire for a smoke-free future the loudest, but we caught it running social media advertising campaigns in 29 different countries,” said Matthew Myers, President of the CTFK, at MedPage Today. The survey concludes that these disguised advertising campaigns have already been viewed more than 25 billion times worldwide, including 8.8 billion times in the United States.
The damage to the younger generations can thus be considerable. According to a very recent study, the arteries of adolescents who smoke start to stiffen as early as the age of 17. Arterial stiffness indicates that the blood vessels are starting to be damaged, which is the bedrock of future heart and blood vessel problems. We are talking about heart attacks or strokes.
“In France, more than 13 million people smoke”, declared the government last March, recalling that tobacco is a “major source of cancers, cardiovascular diseases and respiratory insufficiencies, responsible for 73,000 deaths each year. “Every day in the world, 11 million cigarettes are sold, thus generating 39 billion in profits, that is to say the equivalent of the GDP of Luxembourg.
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