Tactics of the tobacco industry to attract young people on the Internet

Abstract

Introduction Tobacco use is a leading cause of death globally, claiming over 8 million lives annually. In Ukraine alone, tobacco-related diseases cause over 100, 000 premature deaths each year. Despite existing legislation banning tobacco advertising and promotion of sales, aggressive online marketing by tobacco companies continues, targeting Ukrainian youth. Demonstrate the illegal actions of tobacco companies that violate Ukrainian legislation and international standards. Show the various methods used by tobacco companies to attract new consumers. Methods NGO ‘LIFE’ analyzed the tactics employed by tobacco companies to advertise and market tobacco products and heated tobacco devices online. Several chatbots were analyzed, including “Bot Philip” (“PM Ukraine” PrJSC), “IQOS Ukraine” (“LSP” LLC), and “Workshop”(“BAT Sales and Marketing Ukraine” LLC) that provide individualized recommendations on tobacco products, offers of goods at discounted prices or bundled with other services via messengers and websites. Loyalty programs “Ploom Club” (JTI) and “O`go Club” (BAT) have also been studied and are designed to incentivize tobacco purchases through discounts, rewards, and point accumulation. The main target audience for such advertising is young people. Results The article ‘Deadly addiction: how the tobacco industry preys on children and young people through the Internet’ was published in the media, revealing tobacco compa’ies’ Internet tactics. The analysis results on systematic violation of the ban on online advertising were sent to the supervisory authority of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection. Conclusions The tobacco industry is increasingly using the Internet as a tool to aggressively engage young people in the epidemic of tobacco and nicotine use, which creates additional risks for the health care system. The solution to the problem is to ban the sale of tobacco and nicotine products via the Internet, and enforce the ban on advertising without any exceptions.