Big tobacco & social media called out undermining vaping control
British American Tobacco (BAT) and Meta have been dishonourably distinguished with a Dirty Ashtray award and the inaugural Exploding Vape award for undermining Australia’s tobacco and vaping control strategies.
The AMA President was in Perth this week to present the awards — an annual event with the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH).
British American Tobacco, the force behind Responsible Vaping Australia (RVA), received its award for initiating and financing a concerted astroturf * campaign to undermine public health policy on vaping in Australia.
Meta, the owners of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, won its award for failing to enforce its own policy which bans the promotion of tobacco or nicotine products on its platforms.
ACOSH Co-CEO Laura Hunter said RVA is a front for British American Tobacco which wants vapes available in retail settings.
“Hiding behind RVA, BAT has lobbied governments and co-opted various community sectors and organisations who may be unaware big tobacco is behind their astroturf lobby campaign.
“The inaugural ‘Exploding Vape Award’ exposes those who support and further the message of the tobacco industry. Meta has an unparalleled reach across the virtual world, and with it, enormous power to influence.
“In a policy proudly displayed on its website, Meta expressly commits to disallow e-cigarette advertising or promotion on its platforms. It only takes a few seconds to see this is not being enforced.
Professor Steve Robson said tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Australia and the evidence of health threats from e-cigarettes continues to grow, hooking younger generations onto an addictive product.
“Big tobacco is still in big business and we saw its hand attempt to undermine the TGA’s recent vaping reform consultation. Hundreds of individual submissions parroted text from an astroturf campaign.
“The dirty ashtray and exploding vape awards illustrate the need to address unregulated advertising of nicotine products on social media and stop tobacco industry players from funding political and lobby groups.
“We in health, and our colleagues in tobacco control, stand behind the government in their rollout of new tobacco and vaping reforms for the sake of the health of all Australians.”
Over one hundred representatives from the public health coalition fighting to reduce smoking and vaping in Australia attended the breakfast and were joined by Health and Aged Care minister, Mark Butler, and his state counterpart Amber Jade Sanderson. Minister Butler spoke about the government’s next steps for tobacco control legislation.
* The World Health Organization defines astroturfing as the faking of a grassroots movement which in reality is controlled by a hidden multinational company or organisation, in this case tobacco and vaping companies
