Sydney: The Australian government said Thursday it will investigate reports that tobacco companies are using internet social networking sites like Facebook to hook smokers.

Online fan clubs and unofficial product pages endorsing Marlboro, Benson and Hedges and Lucky Strike are now appearing on internet social networks, with links posted to the product’s website.

There are 3,797 members of the Marlboro business consumer group on Facebook which says “u choose the best to be the best”. It appears to have been set up in Jordan. One so-called “friend” wrote about the advantages of smoking.

University of Sydney PhD student Becky Freeman told the Oceania Tobacco Control Conference in Darwin that tobacco companies were using online marketing strategies to get around restrictions on print and television advertising.

“Were those groups started up by the manufacturers of those brands or were they simply started up by fans of those products?” Freeman said.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said she was concerned tobacco firmswere getting around advertising restrictions and ordered officials toinvestigate whether tobacco companies were involved in the “fan groups.”

“I don’t think it’s good form for tobacco companies to be out trying to hook young people onto tobacco when we know the harm that it causes,” Roxon said.

Cancer Council Australia’s chief executive Professor Ian Olver said young people were increasingly taking their cues from online messaging.

“Monitoring the volume and impact of online health messaging and looking at the potential to regulate alternative forms of advertising being employed by the tobacco industry must be a priority,” Olver said. Tobacco companies have denied officially setting up Facebook and Myspace pages.

TOBACCO companies are using legal loopholes to market products on social networking sites including Facebook and MySpace targetting young smokers.

Advertising restrictions on cigarette giants are forcing companies to become savvier in the way they reach consumers.

Fan clubs and unofficial product pages endorsing Marlboro, Benson and Hedges and Lucky Strike are now appearing on social networks, and have the ability to redirect users to the product’s website, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Cancer Council Australia has called on the Federal Government to intervene and ensure the sites are pulled down.

Tobacco companies have denied officially setting up Facebook and Myspace pages.

But experts said it was difficult controlling the stealth internet advertising with regulation a global problem.

“It needs to be brought to the Government’s attention because they have been very good at restricting tobacco advertising,” Professor Ian Olver from the Cancer Council said.

“Now we have this whole new media that can be used and needs to be looked at because it can get a huge number of people, particularly young people.”

Marlboro has 5058 followers on Facebook while Benson and Hedges also uses the social
networking site.

University of Sydney researcher Becky Freeman has been studying the proliferation of tobacco companies using the internet as a marketing tool.

“One of the most innovative marketing strategies was by the Camel brand, which engaged the online community to help design a new packet,” she said.

By Kate Sikora, October 07, 2009 News