Industry marketing of tobacco products on social media: Case study of Philip Morris International's IQOS

Lorien C. Abroms; Christina N. Wysota; Sararat Tosakoon; Amal Khayat; Zongshuan Duan; Yael Bar-Zeev; Carla J. Berg; Hagai Levine

doi:10.1136/tc-2022-057833

Industry marketing of tobacco products on social media: Case study of Philip Morris International's IQOS

Lorien C. Abroms^*, Christina N. Wysota, Sararat Tosakoon, Amal Khayat, Zongshuan Duan, Yael Bar-Zeev, Carla J. Berg, Hagai Levine

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Social Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Significance: Newer tobacco products might be particularly likely to use social media as they emerge in the global market. Little is known about the official use of social media in marketing heated tobacco products (HTPs). This study examined Philip Morris International's (PMI) social media marketing globally of its leading HTP, IQOS. Methods: PMI IQOS country-specific official websites were accessed (N=59) in May to September 2022 and social media accounts listed were recorded. Accounts were then coded for their number of posts in the past month and year and for their number of subscribers. Posts on online accounts with at least one past-month post were categorised to describe the post's function: instructional, general advertising, price promotions or event promotions. Results: Of the 59 country websites, 45 (76.3%) listed at least one social media account; of these, an average of 2.5 accounts (SD=0.8) were listed. Across websites, 111 accounts were identified: 42 Facebook, 23 YouTube, 21 Twitter, 19 Instagram, 2 Telegram, 1 LinkedIn, 1 KakaoTalk, 1 VK and 1 LINE. Across YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, accounts made 2550 past-year posts and had ∼490 961 subscribers. Of the 165 past-month posts, 101 (60.1%) functioned as general advertising, 30 (17.9%) instructional, 29 (17.3%) event promotions and 8 (4.8%) price promotions. Conclusion: Social media posts were used to engage consumers with advertising, event promotions, product use instructions and price promotions. The study provides evidence of the company-sponsored official marketing of an HTP via social media globally, underscoring the need for monitoring and tobacco control regulatory efforts in the digital arena.

Original language	American English
Article number	tc-2022-057833
Journal	Tobacco Control
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1136/tc-2022-057833
State	Accepted/In press - 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
LCA, ST and HL designed the study. CJB and HL obtained grant funding and oversaw the project administration. CNW, AK, ZD, YB-Z and CJB contributed to study design and methodology. LCA, ST, CNW and HL collected and analysed the data and wrote the draft manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript and confirmed the approval of the submitted manuscript. LCA served as the guarantor of the study and as such accepts full responsibility for the work and/or the conduct of the study, had access to the data, and controlled the decision to publish.

Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Keywords

Advertising and Promotion
Electronic nicotine delivery devices
Harm Reduction
Packaging and Labelling
Tobacco industry

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1136/tc-2022-057833

Cite this

@article{4ed6e0ebd062411bbf10febfc6745d81,

title = "Industry marketing of tobacco products on social media: Case study of Philip Morris International's IQOS",

abstract = "Significance: Newer tobacco products might be particularly likely to use social media as they emerge in the global market. Little is known about the official use of social media in marketing heated tobacco products (HTPs). This study examined Philip Morris International's (PMI) social media marketing globally of its leading HTP, IQOS. Methods: PMI IQOS country-specific official websites were accessed (N=59) in May to September 2022 and social media accounts listed were recorded. Accounts were then coded for their number of posts in the past month and year and for their number of subscribers. Posts on online accounts with at least one past-month post were categorised to describe the post's function: instructional, general advertising, price promotions or event promotions. Results: Of the 59 country websites, 45 (76.3%) listed at least one social media account; of these, an average of 2.5 accounts (SD=0.8) were listed. Across websites, 111 accounts were identified: 42 Facebook, 23 YouTube, 21 Twitter, 19 Instagram, 2 Telegram, 1 LinkedIn, 1 KakaoTalk, 1 VK and 1 LINE. Across YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, accounts made 2550 past-year posts and had ∼490 961 subscribers. Of the 165 past-month posts, 101 (60.1%) functioned as general advertising, 30 (17.9%) instructional, 29 (17.3%) event promotions and 8 (4.8%) price promotions. Conclusion: Social media posts were used to engage consumers with advertising, event promotions, product use instructions and price promotions. The study provides evidence of the company-sponsored official marketing of an HTP via social media globally, underscoring the need for monitoring and tobacco control regulatory efforts in the digital arena.",

keywords = "Advertising and Promotion, Electronic nicotine delivery devices, Harm Reduction, Packaging and Labelling, Tobacco industry",

author = "Abroms, {Lorien C.} and Wysota, {Christina N.} and Sararat Tosakoon and Amal Khayat and Zongshuan Duan and Yael Bar-Zeev and Berg, {Carla J.} and Hagai Levine",

note = "Funding Information: LCA, ST and HL designed the study. CJB and HL obtained grant funding and oversaw the project administration. CNW, AK, ZD, YB-Z and CJB contributed to study design and methodology. LCA, ST, CNW and HL collected and analysed the data and wrote the draft manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript and confirmed the approval of the submitted manuscript. LCA served as the guarantor of the study and as such accepts full responsibility for the work and/or the conduct of the study, had access to the data, and controlled the decision to publish. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1136/tc-2022-057833",

language = "American English",

journal = "Tobacco Control",

issn = "0964-4563",

publisher = "BMJ Publishing Group",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Industry marketing of tobacco products on social media

T2 - Case study of Philip Morris International's IQOS

AU - Abroms, Lorien C.

AU - Wysota, Christina N.

AU - Tosakoon, Sararat

AU - Khayat, Amal

AU - Duan, Zongshuan

AU - Bar-Zeev, Yael

AU - Berg, Carla J.

AU - Levine, Hagai

N1 - Funding Information: LCA, ST and HL designed the study. CJB and HL obtained grant funding and oversaw the project administration. CNW, AK, ZD, YB-Z and CJB contributed to study design and methodology. LCA, ST, CNW and HL collected and analysed the data and wrote the draft manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript and confirmed the approval of the submitted manuscript. LCA served as the guarantor of the study and as such accepts full responsibility for the work and/or the conduct of the study, had access to the data, and controlled the decision to publish. Publisher Copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Significance: Newer tobacco products might be particularly likely to use social media as they emerge in the global market. Little is known about the official use of social media in marketing heated tobacco products (HTPs). This study examined Philip Morris International's (PMI) social media marketing globally of its leading HTP, IQOS. Methods: PMI IQOS country-specific official websites were accessed (N=59) in May to September 2022 and social media accounts listed were recorded. Accounts were then coded for their number of posts in the past month and year and for their number of subscribers. Posts on online accounts with at least one past-month post were categorised to describe the post's function: instructional, general advertising, price promotions or event promotions. Results: Of the 59 country websites, 45 (76.3%) listed at least one social media account; of these, an average of 2.5 accounts (SD=0.8) were listed. Across websites, 111 accounts were identified: 42 Facebook, 23 YouTube, 21 Twitter, 19 Instagram, 2 Telegram, 1 LinkedIn, 1 KakaoTalk, 1 VK and 1 LINE. Across YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, accounts made 2550 past-year posts and had ∼490 961 subscribers. Of the 165 past-month posts, 101 (60.1%) functioned as general advertising, 30 (17.9%) instructional, 29 (17.3%) event promotions and 8 (4.8%) price promotions. Conclusion: Social media posts were used to engage consumers with advertising, event promotions, product use instructions and price promotions. The study provides evidence of the company-sponsored official marketing of an HTP via social media globally, underscoring the need for monitoring and tobacco control regulatory efforts in the digital arena.

AB - Significance: Newer tobacco products might be particularly likely to use social media as they emerge in the global market. Little is known about the official use of social media in marketing heated tobacco products (HTPs). This study examined Philip Morris International's (PMI) social media marketing globally of its leading HTP, IQOS. Methods: PMI IQOS country-specific official websites were accessed (N=59) in May to September 2022 and social media accounts listed were recorded. Accounts were then coded for their number of posts in the past month and year and for their number of subscribers. Posts on online accounts with at least one past-month post were categorised to describe the post's function: instructional, general advertising, price promotions or event promotions. Results: Of the 59 country websites, 45 (76.3%) listed at least one social media account; of these, an average of 2.5 accounts (SD=0.8) were listed. Across websites, 111 accounts were identified: 42 Facebook, 23 YouTube, 21 Twitter, 19 Instagram, 2 Telegram, 1 LinkedIn, 1 KakaoTalk, 1 VK and 1 LINE. Across YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, accounts made 2550 past-year posts and had ∼490 961 subscribers. Of the 165 past-month posts, 101 (60.1%) functioned as general advertising, 30 (17.9%) instructional, 29 (17.3%) event promotions and 8 (4.8%) price promotions. Conclusion: Social media posts were used to engage consumers with advertising, event promotions, product use instructions and price promotions. The study provides evidence of the company-sponsored official marketing of an HTP via social media globally, underscoring the need for monitoring and tobacco control regulatory efforts in the digital arena.

KW - Advertising and Promotion

KW - Electronic nicotine delivery devices

KW - Harm Reduction

KW - Packaging and Labelling

KW - Tobacco industry

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U2 - 10.1136/tc-2022-057833

DO - 10.1136/tc-2022-057833

M3 - Article

C2 - 36927516

AN - SCOPUS:85152200169

SN - 0964-4563

JO - Tobacco Control

JF - Tobacco Control

M1 - tc-2022-057833

ER -

Industry marketing of tobacco products on social media: Case study of Philip Morris International's IQOS

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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