Tobacco industry may be using online videos to market products
A new study suggests that tobacco companies may be using online video portals, such as YouTube, to get around advertising restrictions and market their products to young people.
Many tobacco companies signed up to a voluntary agreement to restrict direct advertising on websites by the end of 2002, although there is little actual regulation in place.
The industry has always denied advertising on the internet, but a new study in the journal Tobacco Control, conducted by scientists at the University of Otago in New Zealand, indicates that online videos containing tobacco brand images or words are commonplace.
Read the whole article at Cancer Research UK
Reference
- Elkin, L., Thomson, G., & Wilson, N. (2010). Connecting world youth with tobacco brands: YouTube and the internet policy vacuum on Web 2.0 Tobacco Control DOI: 10.1136/tc.2010.035949
Keywords: YouTube, online video portals, tobacco marketing
26. 8. 2010 Cancer Research UK
