This is Chapter 18 of my new book, working title “The Industry Playbook: Corporate Cartels, Corruption and Crimes Against Humanity” that is being published online chapter by chapter.
The majority of this book has covered events in the 20th century extending a bit into the 21st with occasional exceptions. You might want to believe that based on losing the RICO case, finally getting under FDA regulation, the culture wars that ensued, and more that Big Tobacco reformed their ways. If that is the case, you would be mistaken. What you’ll see here is that the playbook is still working fine.
In recent years, vaping has become popular. Kids today are getting hooked on it. Very likely the history of Big Tobacco is being completely lost on them.
An article at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism by Matthew Chapman reported in 2021, “BAT [British American Tobacco] has told regulators around the world that its new products, including heated tobacco and oral nicotine, are for current adult smokers. But…it has launched an aggressive £1bn marketing campaign that leans heavily on social media, concerts and sporting events, which could have the effect of encouraging young people to pick up a potentially deadly tobacco habit that still kills 8 million people a year, notwithstanding long-established rules aimed at preventing this.”
BAT said, “All marketing activity for our products will only be directed towards adult consumers and is not designed to engage or appeal to youth…All our marketing is done responsibly, in strict accordance with our International Marketing Principles, local laws, legislation and platform policie …We only use influencers in some countries where it’s permitted, and social media platform policies allow.”
This shows the power of the country arbitrage game. In addition, you see them saying one thing in their public relations, while doing the opposite.
- Their products are presented as cool and aspirational in youth-focused advertising campaigns
- Even though nicotine is not allowed to be promoted on Instagram, they’ve paid influencers to do just that
- Glo, BAT’s new heated tobacco product, was the sponsor of concerts for bands that are popular among teenagers.
- BAT also sponsored an e-sports tournament
- Use of free samples, that according to sources, have been given to underage boys and girls.
Big Tobacco has updated it’s advertising for the digital age. Velo, also called Lyft in some markets, are nicotine pouches you put in your mouth. A data analysis by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids showed that Facebook and Instagram posts regarding Velo:
- 40 influencers used Velo hashtags
- Viewed 13.1 million times
- Potential audience of 181 million
They also advertised on TikTok with an #OpenTheCan ad campaign. Interestingly, since the pouches fly under the radar of most countries tobacco laws and advertising regulations. This is because they only contain nicotine, and not tobacco itself.
These stats don’t lie. What BAT is doing is clearly working is bringing new customers in.
Let’s switch gears to look at how governments are fighting against this influence. In June 2019, the WHO assessed the results of the FCTC, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the multilateral treaty that had been adopted in 2003. While they claim some successes in helping smaller countries especially, it is interesting to note some of their findings.
“Since the FCTC’s entry into force, the tobacco industry has initiated and supported litigation challenging various tobacco control measures around the world. Stakeholders in Brazil noted that every legal tobacco control measure taken towards protecting the health of its population has been challenged in court.”
Every measure challenged in court! In other words, they don’t let a single attack go undefended. They don’t concede a single inch of ground. When you understand that regulations hurt their profits, it makes sense that the lawyers are the biggest defense.
This report discusses tobacco industry influence so much so that they abbreviate it TII. They admit that in Bangladesh, “provisions of the [Smoking and Usage of Tobacco Products Control] Act were diluted due to TII.” Or in Sri Lanka that although legislation was drafted in 1999, it wasn’t passed until 2006 due to TII.
They state, “TII continues to be a major obstacle to progress on global tobacco control.”
Big Tobacco is still up to their old game using mostly the same old tricks but updated for the 21st century. Their best bet is for no one to remember this history. Forget what happened. Forget these tactics.
Robert Proctor, a historian who worked for the DOJ case, said the industry “used to control the science and now they’re trying to control the history.”
Add this to their diversification into other products, covered next, and you’ll see why Big Tobacco hasn’t gone anywhere.
Key Takeaways on Up to Old and New Tricks
- Big Tobacco is still advertising to youth, especially with tobacco-free but nicotine containing products that skirt around tobacco advertising laws.
- They’ve updated their marketing to include social media campaigns from Instagram to TikTok, paying influencers, and marketing at concerts and sporting events.
- These tactics are hooking a new generation of youth many of which never learned about what Big Tobacco had done in the past.
- Despite the WHO’s treaty, the tobacco industry continues to fight at every single turn, in many cases quite successfully.
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Links to all published chapters of The Industry Playbook can be found here.
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