Philip Morris International’s use of Facebook to undermine Australian tobacco control laws

Freeman, Becky; Hefler, Marita; Hunt, Daniel

doi:10.17061/phrp2931924

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…PMI, for example, operates a Facebook page that has more than 1 million followers. 53 Google also has an advertising policy on dangerous products or services and prohibits tobacco or any products containing tobacco; products that form a component of a tobacco product, as well as products and services that directly facilitate or promote tobacco consumption; and products designed to simulate tobacco smoking. 54 Google searches for tobacco retailers though, for example, provide localised results and direct links to sales outlets.…”

Section: Taps In Entertainment and Online Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Global tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship regulation: what’s old, what’s new and where to next?

Freeman

Watts²,

Astuti

2022

Tob Control

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Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) bans are a cornerstone of comprehensive tobacco control laws. Global progress in implementing TAPS bans has been enabled by the adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Innovative TAPS policies are in place internationally and include: point-of-sale display bans, plain packaging of products, industry spending on TAPS disclosure reporting, bans on retailer incentive programmes, and regulation of TAPS in entertainment and online media. However, there is an over-reliance on entertainment and digital content producers and platforms to self-regulate TAPS. Ensuring TAPS laws are regularly examined to limit loopholes and remove exemptions is crucial to continued success. The definition of what constitutes TAPS can allow the tobacco industry to deploy corporate communication and political campaigns that skirt TAPS bans. TAPS laws must also maintain pace with the changing media landscape, which includes monitoring and reporting TAPS that cross international borders, primarily through digital media platforms. Limiting tobacco retail supply will also serve to prevent the continued undermining of TAPS bans. Leveraging global corporation to ensure enforcement of TAPS bans across borders is urgently needed.

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Section: Taps In Entertainment and Online Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Global tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship regulation: what’s old, what’s new and where to next?

Freeman

Watts²,

Astuti

2022

Tob Control

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“…Given only two studies (45,46) have investigated how unhealthy commodity actors use social media exclusively to influence policy debates, both analysing the tobacco industry, no single framework exists against which to deductively code lobbying strategies deployed by industry actors on social media. Instead, analysis drew on precedent in these studies.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In analysing 4143 tweets from nine industry actors and trade associations, the volume of data used to construct this framework is thoroughly relative to both existing studies exploring how the tobacco industry influences policy debates on social media. Of these, one analysed a month of Facebook posts (n 25) from one tobacco company (45) , while the other analysed 4 years of tweets (n 3301) from the leading four tobacco companies (46) . By creating a framework of messaging strategies and arguments used on social media with a primary intention of influencing policy debates, a strength of this framework is that it can be used in several ways.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In alcohol policy, Twitter has been used to measure public opinion towards policy debates (41) , monitor how industry-funded organisations undermine health information (42) and evaluate compliance with self-regulatory marketing codes (43,44) . In tobacco, two recent studies have gone a step further, finding companies actively use Facebook (45) and Twitter (46) to influence health policy debates. Notably, these studies explore how frequently policy issues were mentioned, rather than the underpinning strategies and tactics used to do so.…”

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confidence: 99%

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How food companies use social media to influence policy debates: a framework of Australian ultra-processed food industry Twitter data

Hunt

2020

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To understand if, and how, Australian ultra-processed food industry actors use Twitter to influence food and health policy debates and produce a conceptual framework to describe such influence. Design: Twitter data of prominent industry actors were defined through purposive sampling and inductively coded to investigate possible influence on food and health policy debates. These are described using descriptive statistics and coded extracts. Setting: Australia. Participants: Twitter accounts of nine prominent ultra-processed food industry actors, including major trade associations. Results: Ultra-processed food industry actors actively used Twitter to influence food and health policy debates. Seven overarching strategies were identified: co-opting public health narratives; opposing regulation; supporting voluntary, co- or self-regulation; engaging policy processes and decision-makers; linking regulatory environments to the need for ongoing profitability; affecting public perceptions and value judgements; and using ignorance claims to distort policy narratives. Each lobbying strategy is underpinned with tactics described throughout and captured in a framework. Conclusions: The current study creates a framework to monitor how food industry actors can use social media to influence food and health policy debates. As such, social media appears to be not only an important commercial determinant of health for brand marketing, but also an extension of lobbying practices to reshape public perceptions of corporate conduct and policy-making.

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“…The papers in this special issue provide important new insights on a number of these areas, in regard to corporate behaviour 16 and relationships with government 17,18 , media framing of issues 19 and strategies to bring about change. 20,21 We believe these papers can help inform how we move forward on these issues.…”

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confidence: 99%

Countering the commercial determinants of health: strategic challenges for public health

Freeman

Sindall²

2019

Public Health Res Pract

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Private enterprise is widely seen as making a positive contribution to societal wellbeing. In 2018, more than 80% of Australians were employed in the private sector. 1 Commerce and industry-from small business to large corporations-generate wealth, drive technological innovation, and provide products and services that the community values. However, when the regulation of commercial practices is weak-particularly in the case of large corporations-chasing profits can trump public welfare. The findings of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry aptly illustrate this conflict, concluding that "much if not all of the conduct identified in the first round of hearings can be traced to entities preferring pursuit of profit to pursuit of any other purpose." 2 The focus of this special issue on the 'commercial determinants of health' is on the corporations which produce and market unhealthy commodities such as tobacco, alcohol, soft drinks and processed food. The limited regulatory control of these industries has contributed to their role in driving the growing global epidemic of noncommunicable disease. The papers commissioned for this issue help to further illuminate how the behaviour of these companies serves to undermine advances in chronic disease prevention. In this, we have been guided by Kickbusch et al's widely cited definition of the commercial determinants of health as "strategies and approaches used by the private sector to promote products and choices that are detrimental to health". 3 This terminology reflects the increasing global understanding of how unhealthy commodity industries affect health, and is the term favoured by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other United Nations agencies. In using the commercial determinants of health framework, we also acknowledge the discussion in the literature of the 'corporate determinants of health' and the recent body of research on transnational corporations. 4-9 This work recognises the wider impact of major corporations on health and wellbeing, beyond the manufacture and marketing of commodities. This framing considers both the direct and indirect effects of corporate operations, including through the production process, environmental footprint, employment and remuneration practices, financial practices (such as meeting tax obligations) and political behaviour. 10 Kickbusch et al proposed that there would be value in using the commercial determinants of health banner as a multidisciplinary field to

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Philip Morris International’s use of Facebook to undermine Australian tobacco control laws

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

Global tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship regulation: what’s old, what’s new and where to next?

Global tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship regulation: what’s old, what’s new and where to next?

How food companies use social media to influence policy debates: a framework of Australian ultra-processed food industry Twitter data

Countering the commercial determinants of health: strategic challenges for public health

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