Report: YouTube Promotes Smoking As Tobacco Industry Posts Without Restriction

According to recent medical research released this week, YouTube has become a stomping ground for the tobacco industry to promote smoking to young people. The research shows that YouTube is emerging as the perfect advertising channel for Big Tobacco, as it lacks restrictions found on television, newspapers and radio. The study says, “Tobacco companies stand to benefit greatly from the marketing potential of Web 2.0, without themselves being at significant risk of being implicated in violating any laws or advertising codes.”

The research was conducted by public health researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand. According to Yahoo! News, the researches “analyzed a sample of English-language video clips that contained references to five cigarette brands: Marlboro; L&M; Benson and Hedges; Winston; and Mild Seven.” 163 of the most popular videos referencing these cigarette brands were then analyzed to determine whether they portrayed smoking in a positive or negative light. 71% of the clips were determined to be “pro-tobacco”, 4% were determined to be “anti-tobacco”, and the remaining clips did not fall into either category.

The study did not mention statistics about how many views these videos had, or the average age of the viewers. However, it is likely that young people have been exposed to at least some of these pro-tobacco clips, which include old television ads and posters, scenes from films with popular actors smoking the branded cigarettes, and clips of sporting events sponsored by tobacco companies. The pro-smoking videos on YouTube even include a shocking cigarette commercial from the Flinstones, and a 1949 commercial that purports that doctors smoke Camels more than any other cigarette.

When asked if they had anything to do with these videos, Philip Morris International said it “does not market or promote tobacco products on YouTube, nor do we condone or in any way authorize the posting of materials related to our brands.” However, other brands, music labels and film companies have never shied away from asking YouTube to take down content created by them, using their music or related to their brands. Do you think Philip Morris and other Big Tobacco companies should be responsible for having this pro-tobacco content removed from YouTube? Do you think these videos are inspiring young people to smoke?

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