Tobacco industry use social networking sites to promote its products
The tobacco industry is using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to promote its products and persuade people to become smokers, a study revealed yesterday.
“The ban on advertising does not mean the tobacco industry has stopped advertising its products,” said Becky Freeman of Australia’s University of Sydney, who conducted the study.
She presented her findings in Bangkok at a threeday regional training workshop held by Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).
Freeman said most tobacco companies were interested in viral marketing (using preexisting social networks to increase brand recognition) to persuade or influence audiences to pass products on to others.
A million people had visited video clips on YouTube reviewing cigarettes, she said, and thousands more had become fans of the products on Facebook.
“The Internet has made it easier to engage consumers by allowing them to contribute directly to marketing campaigns and brand development,” she said.
The use of social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, podcasts and RSS would be one of the main topics up for discussion at Tabinfo Asia 2009, the tobacco industry’s biggest event, to be held at the Impact Arena Exhibition Centre from today until Sunday.
SEATCA’s senior policy adviser Mary Assunta Kolandai said the tobacco industry was using creative tactics to attract buyers by introducing giveaways using brand colours and logos.
Another marketing device was the use of product and pack designs – such as colourful and glowinthe dark packs – to entice specific groups.
“For example, we found cigarette packs designed like lipsticks or wallets – a new way to lure more and more women to become smokers,” she said.
To prevent youth from taking up smoking, Kolandi has called on the government to issue comprehensive regulations banning such advertising and promotion on the Internet.
A group of 650 people, including teenagers, led by Action on Smoking and its alliances, will today demonstrate against the Tabinfo Asia 2009 at Impact Arena.
“This is a nightmare for our people,” SEATCA’s director Bungon Ritthiphakdee said, adding that the industry would step up its tactics to fight, delay and dilute national tobacco control legislation – as evidenced by the sessions and discussions lined up for its upcoming congress.
Also on the summit’s agenda is discussing how to wipe the regulatory slate clean, making packages more attractive and innovations to sustain addiction, Bungon said.
Box
Statistics
2.4 million people per year die from tobaccorelated diseases in Asia.
6,575 smokers die daily.
125 million adults are smokers in the Asean region.
350 million smokers in China.
1 million die in the mainland every year from tobaccorelated deaths.
By Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation
November 11, 2009
