Industry marketing of tobacco products on social media

case study of Philip Morris International’s IQOS

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

¹ Department of Prevention and Community Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
² Institute for Data Democracy & Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
³ Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah, Jerusalem, Israel
⁴ George Washington University Cancer Center, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

Dr Lorien C Abroms, Department of Prevention and Community Health, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, Washington, DC 20052, USA; [email protected]

Received November 03, 2022

Accepted March 01, 2023

Tobacco Control 33(4):p 518-524, July 2024. | DOI: 10.1136/tc-2022-057833

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.