Instagram Tobacco Marketing overshadows warnings about E-cigarettes
Instagram Tobacco Marketing overshadows warnings about E-cigarettes Laestadius L, et al. Tobacco, nicotine and counter-marketing promotions using Instagram’s branded content tool.
“The social media conglomerate Meta has a policy prohibiting promoting tobacco products, vaporizers, electronic cigarettes, or other products that simulate smoking via their branded content tools. This study examines if branded Instagram posts comply with these self-regulatory efforts.”
“Of the 217 active branded posts that mentioned or depicted tobacco/nicotine products, most promoted rather than countered the sale of such products (84.3% vs 15.7%, respectively). Posts originating from US Instagram users accounted for 42.6% of promotional content. After the USA, posts from Indonesia (19.1%), Pakistan (9.8%), and India (8.2%) were most frequent. Most posts were fully in English (74.9%). Posts featured hookah (39.4%), electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) accessories (17.5%), ENDS devices and e-liquids (16.9%), and various types of cigars (15.3%). Most US posts promoted venues or events where tobacco/nicotine products were featured (71.8%). Almost half of all promotional posts (47.0%) were sponsored by tobacco industry accounts. Posts that encouraged cessation were primarily (47.1%) sponsored by non-government organizations.”
Tobacco Control Published Online First: 30 December 2023. doi: 10.1136/tc-2023-058301
https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2023/12/30/tc-2023-058301
Stephen Hamann
