Tobacco advertising remains very present on Instagram despite the ban

A study published in the journal Tobacco Control[1] shows that despite the ban by the Meta group (which owns Facebook and Instagram) in 2019 on advertising for tobacco and nicotine products on its platforms, advertising content is still present in 2023. In 85% of cases, the publications positively promoted tobacco and nicotine products and were sponsored by tobacco manufacturers.

Authors from the University of Milwaukee Public Health analyzed 400 branded content[2] mentioning tobacco products on the Instagram platform between July 31, 2022 and March 31, 2023. This data was collected and classified using Meta’s CrowdTangle tool. Ultimately, 217 publications were identified as relevant and were retained in the analysis.

The authors also studied the presence of counter-marketing messages[3] and the promotion of smoking cessation aids in branded content.

Tobacco products most featured in Instagram posts

Of the 217 branded Instagram posts, 84.3 % (n=183) were classified as promoting tobacco/nicotine product use or sale and 15.7 % (n=34) as countermarketing or promoting smoking cessation. Of the 183 branded posts promoting tobacco or nicotine product use or sale, 42.6 % were from US accounts. After the US, posts from Indonesia (n=35), Pakistan (n=18), and India (n=15) were the most common.

The most frequently mentioned or represented products are hookah (39.34 %), followed by vaping accessories (17.5 %), vaping devices and e-liquids (16.9 %), or cigars/little cigars/cigarillos (15.3 %).

Of all promotional messages, 74.9% were entirely in English, and the median number of account followers was 54,158.

Publications highlighting recreational use of tobacco and nicotine

Posts were most often from individual Instagram users who did not regularly post about tobacco/nicotine products but were compensated by tobacco or other nicotine product manufacturers/retailers. While named sponsors were often small brands or retailers, larger entities such as Velo and Vuse (British American Tobacco), FLVR Cigars, and Casa Cuevas cigars were also featured.

Nearly one-third of the posts (30.6 %) promoted upcoming events (at the time of posting) where tobacco or nicotine use was explicitly permitted (e.g., theme parties), and an additional 14.2 % promoted non-event-specific locations where tobacco or nicotine use was permitted (e.g., nightclubs, bars, restaurants, etc.). Posts that were not tied to a specific event often originated from people posting while they were in a commercial location associated with tobacco or nicotine use, such as a hookah lounge or cigar bar. The posts typically talked about good times spent at these locations. Of the U.S. posts, 71.8 % promoted tobacco or nicotine products in the context of an event or location, such as a hookah nightclub.

For the “counter-marketing” publications (n=34), they mainly contained general recommendations to stop consuming these products or were a component of prevention campaigns aimed at young people and were sponsored by NGOs.

The need to enforce a general ban

These results show the need for a general ban on advertising for tobacco and nicotine products. A complete ban helps prevent circumvention by manufacturers, but to be effective once adopted, the ban must be well implemented, including in its cross-border dimension.

For the authors, one of the main difficulties lies in the circumvention of the provisions in force by manufacturers. The latter adapt their wording to circumvent the prohibitions imposed by the algorithms. Thus, the presence of messages where a brand/product was explicitly included in the publication highlights the challenges of the methods of application of the regulation.

The study further highlights the limitations of implementing such a ban by operators themselves. For example, Meta's policy on branded tobacco content is significantly more limited than its policy on paid advertising.[4]; the Branded Content Policy does not explicitly prohibit the promotion of nicotine products or tobacco-related venues. For example, there remains uncertainty over Meta’s enforcement of posts promoting hookah in bars or posts sponsored by the Velo nicotine pouch brand. In addition, the cross-border nature of the content highlights how online promotions can cross digital borders and expose citizens of other countries when the ban is not enforced.

In this perspective, on the occasion of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO COP10) to be held in Panama in February, governments will consider adopting specific guidelines complementary to the existing ones on cross-border digital advertising, including on social networks. These guidelines aim to help countries more effectively implement the ban on cross-border advertising of tobacco and nicotine products, including on social networks.

Keywords: Instagram, Meta, advertising, marketing, tobacco, hookah, cigars, vaping, social media, cross-border advertising, COP10

AE

[1] Laestadius L, Van Hoorn K, Vassey J, et al Tobacco, nicotine and counter-marketing promotions using Instagram's branded content tool Tobacco Control Published Online First: 30 December 2023. doi: 10.1136/tc-2023-058301

[2] Branded content is content for which creators receive compensation, in the form of money or other consideration of monetary value, from a brand or business partner. Creators must then identify their business partner or brand when posting branded content on Instagram.

[3] Countermarketing is a tactic used to reduce the demand for a product or service. Marketers working on a countermarketing campaign use commercial marketing tactics to reinforce health-promoting messages and reduce the demand for harmful products such as tobacco.

[4] Branded content is different from paid/sponsored posts. In the first case, it is the individual who makes the post who is compensated by a brand (with money or a product), in the second case it is the individual who pays to promote the post so that it is seen by a greater number of people.