Exclusive: Philip Morris suspends social media campaign after Reuters unveils its young "influencers"

(Reuters) – Cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc. suspended a global social media marketing campaign in response to Reuters surveys on the company's use of young online personalities for the sale of its new device of "heated tobacco", including a 21-year-old woman from Russia.

The company's internal "marketing standards" prohibit it from promoting tobacco products to celebrities or "youth-oriented dummies" who have or appear to be under 25 years of age.

The company informed Reuters of the decision Friday night, explaining that she had launched an internal survey on marketing publications and photos that Reuters had sent to the company for comments earlier this week.

Among them was a paid ticket, "influencer" of social media, Alina Tapilina in Moscow – which indicated her age at 21 on Instagram – accompanied by often seductive photos of herself drinking wine, swimming and posing. with small clothes in a luxurious setting.

"We made the decision to suspend all of our digital product-related global influence," the company told Reuters. "While the influencer in question is a legal-age adult smoker, she is under 25 and our tips have called influencers to be 25 years or older. It was clearly a violation of these guidelines. "

"No law has been broken," the company told Reuters. "However, we set high standards for ourselves and these facts do not excuse our inability to meet those standards in this case."

The company added, "We were deeply disappointed to discover this flaw and are grateful that it has been brought to our attention."

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided last month to allow sales of the IQOS device in the United States after a two-year review process during which Philip Morris had repeatedly assured the regulator that he would warn young people of the product.

The FDA declined to comment Friday night on Philip Morris' decision to suspend the marketing campaign. The agency had announced earlier that she "would be watching closely … the way the company markets its products".

While most of the social media influencers hired by Philip Morris overseas did not list their age on Instagram, a Reuters article on IQOS social media marketing by the company in Japan, Italy , in Switzerland, Russia and Romania shows that the character of Tapilina online society has described his social media as "ambassadors" of the device – slim young women who revel in the high life .

The company did not respond directly to additional questions on Friday night regarding the target audience of its digital influence campaigns.

Many posts contained the hashtag "#IQOSambassador", which linked them to a network of social media influencers on which the international tobacco giant has relied for IQOS to be presented as an alternative safer cigarettes and a sexy fashion accessory.

"I finally have the new IQOS 3, and I can say for sure that yes, we have to change … the level of harmful substances is on average about 90% lower than that of smoke," wrote Tapilina in an article from April. "You have not gone to IQOS yet?"

A Romanian marketing specialist IQOS is 25, according to a separate biography of the actress, but has not registered his age on Instagram. Tapilina and nine other IQOS marketers did not respond to requests for comment.

Philip Morris, in his statement to Reuters, said the suspension of the social marketing campaign was "concrete evidence" of his "belief in achieving a tobacco-free world through socially responsible practices."

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Children, had a different point of view when he learned of the suspension on Friday night. The advocacy group collected some of the IQOS marketing images reviewed by Reuters.

Philip Morris, he said, "only changes their behavior when it is caught red-handed."

The company, said Myers, has always been "the world's most successful young fashion cigarette maker."

HAPPY VALENTINE!

Over the past year, Philip Morris has increasingly announced his "mission" to prevent youth from using tobacco products. Last month he issued a statement calling "all tobacco companies and e-cigarettes to do their part to protect themselves from nicotine use by young people".

"Let's be clear: at Philip Morris International, we do not market or sell our products to young people" and will not sell it, "said General Manager, Andre Calantzopoulos, during a speech in Boston earlier this month . "For Philip Morris International, age matters."

When Philip Morris submitted marketing plans with an FDA application for IQOS in 2017, his advertising examples featured models appearing at least a decade older and wearing modest business attire.

This application, which is still pending before the FDA, seeks authorization to market IQOS as less harmful than tobacco and describes the steps taken by the company to ensure that it does not sell the device. to "non-target audiences". The device heats up but does not heat up. burn crushed tobacco packets, which look like small cigarettes, to create an aerosol filled with nicotine.

In Japan, the audience targeted by IQOS marketing includes Instagram followers of Ayame Tachibana, DJ and 27-year-old model. In a message, she shows a Valentine's Day message for the IQOS device, lovingly scribbled with multicolored pens.

"Happy Valentine IQOS. I like you very much! ", Read on Instagram since February.

Alina Eremia, a Romanian actress and singer, holds a gold IQOS in front of a Christmas tree.

"My list of resolutions contains 95% fewer moments without a smile," says Eremia, 25, according to her actress's biography, appearing on several news websites about movies and celebrities.

Philip Morris said that IQOS – the acronym "I stop smoking", contains up to 95% fewer toxic compounds than cigarettes.

Vlad Parvulescu, a manager of Eremia, confirmed that she had been hired to promote IQOS and indicated that she had been contacted by a Romanian public relations agency. He did not answer additional questions about the financial arrangements.

According to industry experts, business-to-business marketing agreements and social media influencers vary widely. But typically, a business will work through public relations or third-party advertising companies having relationships with online personalities. Compensation typically ranges from $ 20 to $ 25,000 per position.

Joe Gagliese, co-founder of Viral Nation, a marketing and talent agency that works with influencers, said Joe Gagliese, co-founder of Viral Nation, on social media.

He has already had to explain the basic concept of an "influencer" in pitch meetings. Now, companies are approaching it with "made-to-measure decision memories, saying," that's exactly what we want. "

Reuters reviewed dozens of social media posts featuring the IQOS device. Many hashtags such as #IQOSAmbassador, #paidad and #notriskfree, indicating that they are IQOS marketing publications.

Many of the Instagram influencers featuring the products had tens of thousands of followers and a few had more than one million.

VIRAL CAMPAIGNS, FLUTED LINES

Devices such as IQOS and Juul have the potential to allow cigarette smokers to switch to less harmful nicotine-based products, but some public health advocates are concerned that new, elegant devices may be addictive to young people who do not Have never smoked cigarettes. According to federal data, 90% of traditional cigarette smokers start smoking before the age of 18.

Philip Morris stated that there had been "no report" on "disturbing levels" of unintentional IQOS use.

As part of the FDA review process, Philip Morris has committed to market its products only to adult cigarette smokers when it starts selling IQOS this summer as part of a partnership with Altria Group Inc. who sells Marlboro cigarettes in the United States. traditional cigarette.

Altria has not responded to requests for comment.

Social media marketing has become a turning point in the debate over the regulation of tobacco products, especially the latest generation of products such as the popular Juul electronic cigarettes.

Juul's first social media and YouTube marketing features eye-catching images of young people, especially at a product launch party in 2015. Twitter images from that time on Juul's official report showed sensual pictures of a young woman breathing the vapors of Juul in a group, next to the slogan "Share a #Juulmoment".

These first campaigns caused an explosion of video and photo messages of young people showing themselves using the product at school or with friends, often under the hashtags # must4juul or #juullife. Since then, Juul Labs Inc. has announced that it no longer uses influential people in social media and that its ads must be former cigarette smokers over 35 years old.

Juul Labs Inc. said in a statement that it acknowledged that "some of our early marketing initiatives did not fully reflect the purpose of our company," which she describes as a help to the transition of cigarette smokers to his products.

"As a young company, we learned from our experiences and implemented changes to help us reach only current adult smokers," the company said.

CONDITIONAL APPROVAL

US tobacco advertising laws – which are banned on radio and television – were developed long before social media and digital advertising became a dominant force in consumer marketing.

Although no current federal or federal law limits the advertising of tobacco on the Internet – including for electronic cigarettes and devices such as IQOS – the FDA can use its authority over new devices to assert a control total on the marketing of a company.

To authorize the sale of the device, the FDA is asking Philip Morris to provide detailed analyzes of the age ranges of consumers he reaches through digital advertising. Philip Morris is also required to submit any new advertising campaign, including digital and social media efforts, to the FDA at least 30 days prior to its scheduled launch.

All paid influencers who promote the product must also disclose "any relationship between you and entities that create labeling, advertise, market and / or promote the products, on your behalf or under your direction".

These rules aim to restrict young people's access to tobacco marketing, the FDA said in a statement, "particularly in shared digital properties such as social media sites."