Philip Morris suspends his campaign on social media

Cigarette maker Philip Morris International has suspended a global social media marketing campaign in response to surveys of the company's use of young online personalities to sell its new "heated tobacco" device, including a 21-year-old woman in 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, registering 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.

Alina Tapilina, whose profile on social networks says she is 21 years old, holds an IQOS device "heated tobacco"

"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 the age of 25 and our advice was that influencers should be 25 years of age or older." Violation of these instructions. "

"No laws have 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 breach and are grateful to have 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 that she "would closely monitor how 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 Tapilina's online character was typical of what the company termed its social media as "ambassadors" of the device – thin young women who are delight 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 global 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 with certainty that yes, we must 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 proof" 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 caught in the act."

The company, said Myers, has always been "the world's most successful society in making fashionable cigarettes for young people".

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 and e-cigarette companies to do their part to protect against nicotine use by young people".

"Let's be clear: at Philip Morris International, we do not market and sell our products to young people," said CEO 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 approval to market IQOS as less harmful than tobacco and describes the company's plans to ensure that it is not marketed to " non-target audiences ". The device heats up, but does not burn the packets of ground tobacco, 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 post, she shows a Valentine's Day message for the IQOS device, lovingly scribbled with multicolored pens.

"Happy Valentine IQOS I love you very much!" read the February Instagram post.

Ayame Tachibana, a 27-year-old Japanese model, shows a Valentine's Day card for IQOS

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," said Eremia, 25, according to her actress's biography, appearing on many news websites about movies and celebrities.

Philip Morris said that IQOS – the acronym for "I quit 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 "tailored 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.

Alina Eremia, a 25-year-old Romanian actress and singer, holds a gold-colored IQOS device in front of a Christmas tree.

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

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 said that there were "no reports" 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.

Some of Juul's first social media and YouTube marketing include attractive youth images, including a product launch party in 2015. Twitter images from that time on Juul's official report featured sensual images 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. stated in a statement that it acknowledged that "some of our early marketing initiatives did not fully reflect the purpose of our company", which is described as a transition aid for 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.

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.

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."

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