A recent study has exposed big international tobacco companies using Instagram influencers to advertise cigarettes in Australia.
The study, by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and customer research and consulting firm Netnografica, found more than 100 social media campaigns by tobacco giants Philip Morris, Imperial Brands and Japan Tobacco International.
The study was uncovered by Triple J’s Hack program yesterday as the discussion circled around tobacco companies secretly partnering with influencers in over 40 countries. Influencers from these tobacco companies’ partnerships were posting images of cigarettes and smoking in an attempt to make the habit appear cool, and increase tobacco’s popularity amongst young people.
Speaking with Hack, anti-smoking advocate and study leader Matthew Myers explained: "The sad reality is, this has gone on for a number of years, with no governments investigating it carefully, and with little attention brought to it. That's the reason we conducted the investigation,”
In Australia corporations can be fined up to $126,00 for breaching anti-smoking advertising laws; however, due to the grey area that is influencer marketing it is unknown whether these same regulations apply. Companies have also managed to evade anti-smoking advertising laws by hosting numerous events where young influencers were given free cigarettes alongside other gifts.
Influencers who attended these events or were gifted product were in return expected to post on social media to their followings, either featuring the product, talking very favourably about the product, or posting content around cigarettes in general.
Myers concluded “As is usually the case with the tobacco industry, if you put up a dyke they'll find a hole in it. With social media, boundaries mean much less than they ever did before.
"It's truly insidious."
