[Intl-tobacco] Australia/World: Smoking on YouTube

[robert weissman]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/tobacco-firms-on-net/2006/11/17/1163266787563.html

Sydney Morning Herald

Whiff of tobacco firms on net
Julian Lee
November 18, 2006

IS THIS the last frontier in tobacco marketing or simply a global stage
for the look-at-me generation?

Thousands of videos of sexy, smoking teens are appearing on the internet
phenomenon YouTube, possibly being posted by tobacco manufacturers to
recruit the next generation of smokers.

A global authority on tobacco marketing, Professor Simon Chapman, of the
School of Public Health at Sydney University, has accused tobacco
manufacturers of hijacking YouTube by flooding it with videos of
glamorous, smoking teens. Each day 100 million video clips are viewed on
YouTube.

But as each legal avenue is shut down, Professor Chapman says
manufacturers must explore "dark marketing", the tobacco industry term
for covert techniques.

"We looked at it [YouTube] the other day and were astonished to find a
huge number of examples of young people smoking, whether it was in
parties or just sitting around looking glamorous," he said. "It's
entirely possible this is a social phenomenon; that kids are doing this
because they find it fascinating. But I've been in this game long enough
to say that the tobacco industry has been hiding under many rocks, and
this one bears investigation."

Professor Chapman will investigate the matter further with the help of a
federal grant.

At least 27,000 videos are returned when smoking is typed into the
YouTube search engine.

The vast majority portray young women smoking while partying, talking or
simply striking seductive poses, leading Professor Chapman's team to
conclude young males are the target.

A digital marketing expert, Jean-Claude Abouchar, of Capture
Communications, said YouTube's anonymity - users can hide behind aliases
- provided the perfect cover for companies wanting to infiltrate the
teen world.

"It's the perfect Trojan horse," he said. "They can upload videos of
stars smoking in movies and call the clips 'celebrities' or add the
actor's name or movie title to the video. And while that's not
incorrect, it's a sneaky way of embedding their message that smoking is
sexy or cool."

Each time a video is viewed users can rate it or send it to friends.
"Effectively, they've got a worldwide sales force," Mr Abouchar said.
Posting videos on YouTube is free.

Professor Chapman said: "If I was a tobacco marketer I'd be saying,
'It's not illegal; it's an international market and it's unregulated,'
and it goes right to the heart of what I believe will be the future of
tobacco marketing."

Tobacco advertising has been banned in Australia since 1992.

A spokesman for Philip Morris Australia, Colin Lippiatt, said the
company abided by the law and that internet advertising without age
verification was inappropriate and should be banned. YouTube declined to
comment.

* Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboro, will ask the film industry to
refrain from showing its brands in any future films, in ads to run in
the industry magazines Variety and the Hollywood Reporter