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. 2010 Jun;19(3):e1-9.
doi: 10.1136/tc.2009.032847. Epub 2010 Apr 15.

British American Tobacco on Facebook: undermining Article 13 of the global World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Becky Freeman  1 , Simon Chapman
Affiliations

British American Tobacco on Facebook: undermining Article 13 of the global World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Becky Freeman et al. Tob Control. 2010 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) bans all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. The comprehensiveness of this ban has yet to be tested by online social networking media such as Facebook. In this paper, the activities of employees of the transnational tobacco company, British American Tobacco, (BAT) on Facebook and the type of content associated with two globally popular BAT brands (Dunhill and Lucky Strike) are mapped.

Methods: BAT employees on Facebook were identified and then the term 'British American Tobacco' was searched for in the Facebook search engine and results recorded, including titles, descriptions, names and the number of Facebook participants involved for each search result. To further detail any potential promotional activities, a search for two of BAT's global brands, 'Dunhill' and 'Lucky Strike', was conducted.

Results: Each of the 3 search terms generated more than 500 items across a variety of Facebook subsections.

Discussion: Some BAT employees are energetically promoting BAT and BAT brands on Facebook through joining and administrating groups, joining pages as fans and posting photographs of BAT events, products and promotional items. BAT employees undertaking these actions are from countries that have ratified the WHO FCTC, which requires signatories to ban all forms of tobacco advertising, including online and crossborder exposure from countries that are not enforcing advertising restrictions. The results of the present research could be used to test the comprehensiveness of the advertising ban by requesting that governments mandate the removal of this promotional material from Facebook.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Screen capture image of how a list of individual people profiles appear when conducting a subject key word search, in this case the search term ‘British American Tobacco Australia’ was entered on 9 July 2009.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Screen capture images of an open group for Lucky Strike cigarettes on 9 July 2009.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Screen capture of the first step in creating a Facebook page accessed 9 July 2009.
Figure 4
Figure 4
LivingSocial application showing the first three results for the ‘top 5 cigarette’ category (accessed 15 June 2009).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Screen capture image of the British American Tobacco network on 9 July 2009.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Photo of Kent promotional items posted by a BAT employee on the ‘Kent Cigarettes’ group.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Screen capture image of the ‘Lucky Strike Cigarettes’ page.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Public profile image of Belgium BAT employee Kristof Desmedt.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Image of promotional items posted on the ‘Lucky Strike Cigarettes’ page by BAT employee Kristof Desmedt.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Photo of Lucky Strike brand ambassador as posted to the ‘LUCKY STRIKE FUN’ group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization Full list of signatories and parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, 2009. http://www.who.int/fctc/signatories_parties/en/index.html (accessed 25 Jun 2009).
    1. Conference of the Parties (COP) Guidelines for implementation of Article 13 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship), 2008. http://www.who.int/fctc/guidelines/article_13.pdf (accessed 25 Jun 2009).
    1. Eysenbach G. Medicine 2.0: social networking, collaboration, participation, apomediation, and openness. J Med Internet Res 2008;10:e22. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wakefield M, Morley C, Horan JK, et al. The cigarette pack as image: new evidence from tobacco industry documents. Tob Control 2002;11(Suppl 1):i73–80 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kazeniac A. Social networks: Facebook takes over top spot, Twitter climbs, 2009. http://blog.compete.com/2009/02/09/facebook-myspace-twitter-social-network/ (accessed 29 Jun 2009).

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