Briefing paper
Social networks: a whole new world for the tobacco industry to conquer
Young people are the prime target audience of the tobacco industry. Turning them into consumers is, quite simply, essential to the business’s survival. The barely disguised objective of every tobacco company is to lure young non-smokers (which they refer to as ‘pre-smokers’) onto one of their brands as early as possible, before their competitors do so. It is then a matter of turning these ‘apprentice smokers’ into regular consumers, addicted to a product and loyal to a brand. The tobacco industry makes use of all the marketing channels available to it to achieve these aims. In addition to the classic advertising media, social networks have now also emerged as new land to conquer. This virtual space, open, borderless and intrusive, is not subject to the usual regulations concerning targeted marketing. So as long as this regulatory vagueness remains, and the virtual communities continue to attract new and ever younger members, all the industry needs to do is fire off a few arrows to hit its target audience.
