It’s being claimed that tobacco firms are posting videos of glamorous teenagers smoking on YouTube in their search for alternative ways to recruit the next generation of customers as legal avenues for the industry close.
The Sydney Morning Herald quotes Professor Simon Chapman, of the School of Public Health at Sydney University, as saying that firms are exploring covert “dark marketing” techniques. He says: “We looked at [YouTube] the other day and were astonished to find a huge number of examples of young people smoking, whether it was in parties or just sitting around looking glamorous. It’s entirely possible this is a social phenomenon; that kids are doing this because they find it fascinating. But I’ve been in this game long enough to say that the tobacco industry has been hiding under many rocks, and this one bears investigation.”
Around 100 million video clips are viewed on the website everyday.
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