The ultimate hypocrisy: who is really backing vaping advertising in Australia

Today’s news, on April 2, reports that big tobacco companies are facing criticism from public health advocates for posting on Facebook calling for help to prevent e-cigarettes from falling into the hands of children, as a cover for their marketing activities aimed at legalizing e-cigarettes in Australia.<\/p>

British American Tobacco operates a website and Facebook page called Responsible Vaping Australia, which posted a message last week calling for the removal of e-cigarettes from children. The Facebook post also provided a link to an activity aimed at legalizing e-cigarettes in Australia, which falls under the advertising rules prohibiting tobacco and e-cigarette products.<\/p>

Associate Professor Becky Freeman from the University of Sydney stated that the company is speaking out of both sides of its mouth, as it employs the same marketing strategies used to promote cigarettes to young people while presenting itself as a responsible corporate citizen.<\/p>

Internal documents disclosed during the litigation previously revealed how executives at British American Tobacco discussed using Formula 1 racing, popular live bands, DJs, toys, and video games to target the youth market while lobbying to raise the minimum age for tobacco sales to 18.<\/p>

"It’s like déjà vu," Freeman said. "They are still doing all these things. They haven’t changed at all. They are the same company they were 25 years ago."<\/p>

The company’s Vuse e-cigarette products are now associated with Formula 1 racing through partnerships with McLaren Racing. It has also collaborated with Tomorrowland, a dance music festival in Belgium, to promote International Women’s Day and fashion events.<\/p>

"You have F1, fashion, parties, and women’s rights. This is exactly what they have always done, and now they are just replacing cigarettes with e-cigarettes," Freeman said.<\/p>

Her research found that another tobacco company, Philip Morris, has made agreements with bars and clubs across Australia to attract the lucrative 18-24 age market. Merivale recently joined the ranks of supporters of Responsible Vaping Australia on its website.<\/p>

Freeman stated: The pattern here is exactly the same; you want to associate e-cigarettes with going out, lifestyle, socializing, and drinking.<\/p>

Freeman has conducted extensive research on how e-cigarettes and the tobacco industry are using social media to circumvent tobacco advertising laws, stating that British American Tobacco is working around Facebook and Instagram rules that prohibit paid advertisements for e-cigarettes or tobacco products.<\/p>

These rules do not extend to social or political advertising and do not prevent the tobacco and e-cigarette industry from owning Facebook and Instagram pages.<\/p>

"Meta [which owns Facebook] is not trying to prevent the tobacco industry from having Facebook pages," she said. "BAT can have ads... trying to push to overturn our e-cigarette laws because it doesn’t fit the definition of tobacco advertising."<\/p>

The Responsible Vaping Australia Facebook site is operated by BAT Australia, not an independent organization, which is not immediately obvious, Freeman said, unless people dig deeper into the site to discover it is created and operated by British American Tobacco.<\/p>

"When it’s a multinational tobacco company, it looks like an independent organization representing the interests of small retailers," she said.<\/p>

A spokesperson for Meta stated that it has removed several ads from the Responsible Vaping Australia Facebook site for violating its social issue advertising policy because these ads did not disclose who paid for them. Similar content has been posted in organic posts that are not paid advertisements.<\/p>

"Some of these posts did not violate our policies because we allow discussions about e-cigarette products on Facebook according to our community standards. Social issue, election, and political-related ads have higher standards and require a paid party disclaimer," the spokesperson said.<\/p>

Freeman stated that the post calling for help to keep e-cigarettes away from children and to end the black market by joining their campaign is hypocritical because e-cigarette products are designed and marketed to attract young people, featuring bright colors and flavors, including passion fruit, blueberries, and bananas.<\/p>

She said: A company that has spent decades getting kids addicted to cigarettes... dares to say e-cigarettes don’t belong in schools and let’s work together to get them out, that’s the height of hypocrisy.<\/p>

"This obscures the fact that it is a multinational tobacco company with a history of selling products to young people around the world." #p#分页标题#e#<\/p>

"This industry has done everything it can to prevent public health from restricting its sales in any way. Twelve years ago, when we adopted plain packaging, they sued Australia, and now they say let’s work together."<\/p>

British American Tobacco previously disclosed in internal documents released during litigation that despite launching a public campaign to raise the legal smoking age, the company continued to sell its products to children.<\/p>

Internal memos and faxes written in the late 1990s showed that BAT's global sponsorship head discussed proposals to distribute model cars, promote Formula 1 teams, and Lara Croft-style computer characters, as cute/fun animal characters had run their course and might be more popular with younger children rather than kids. They also discussed plans to promote Lucky Strike cigarettes at parties featuring cult bands, including Violent Femmes and popular DJs, while hiding BAT's involvement to avoid tobacco advertising bans.<\/p>

Data released last year by the New South Wales Health Department showed that 11% of people aged 16 to 24 reported being current e-cigarette users—double the number reported the previous year.<\/p>

Simon Chapman, a public health professor at the University of Sydney, has written to the Australian Convenience Store Association expressing concerns about children obtaining highly addictive e-cigarettes from convenience stores.<\/p>

"Tobacco companies often sell tobacco products to children, and we should believe that suddenly they will put on white hats and never do it again. I think we can be skeptical of these suggestions," he said.<\/p>

"Responsible Vaping Australia is funded by British American Tobacco, a company that has determined its future existence depends on young people’s uptake of nicotine products, whether they are e-cigarettes or not."<\/p>

"Youth smoking rates are at the lowest levels on record... that’s why they are so eager to get e-cigarettes into as many retailers as possible. Vapes are what they want to be their salvation."<\/p>

"That’s why the government is unlikely to agree to their proposals because they can see through them."<\/p>

The Herald contacted the association for comment.<\/p>

Under Paul Zahra's leadership, the Australian Retailers Association withdrew from any association with e-cigarette organizations in 2020. His female spokesperson stated that any slight use or encouragement is worth noting.<\/p>

A spokesperson for British American Tobacco stated that the vast majority of e-cigarette products illegally sold in Australia are imported from China.<\/p>

He said that Responsible Vaping Australia is an initiative launched by British American Tobacco to represent adult consumers, responsible retailers, and industry associations advocating for responsible regulation of nicotine e-cigarette products.<\/p>

"Supporters of Responsible Vaping Australia advocate for ending the black market for nicotine e-cigarette products by ensuring that Australian adult consumers can purchase products in a responsible and regulated manner." he said.<\/p>

"Although Australia prohibits the retail sale of nicotine e-cigarette products to adults, illegal operators are running a rampant black market, selling unregulated products to anyone, including children."<\/p>