Social media: the tobacco industry’s new weapon

Young people are the tobacco industry’s main target: getting them to start smoking is essential to its survival.

The poorly concealed goal of every tobacco company is to get young non-smokers (the industry refers to them as “pre-smokers”) to start smoking one of its brands as early as possible, in order to stay ahead of its competitors. The next step is to ensure that these young “apprentice smokers” continue to consume tobacco products and become regular smokers, addicted to the product and loyal to the brand. To achieve its goals, the tobacco industry exploits all the marketing channels at its disposal. In addition to traditional advertising media, social media has recently emerged as a new territory to conquer. This virtual space, which is open, borderless, and intrusive, is not subject to regulations on targeted marketing. While this regulatory gray area persists and these virtual communities continue to welcome new and increasingly younger members, manufacturers need only fire a few arrows to hit their targets.