The leading global tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI) has taken advantage of a legal loophole in Israel's ban on advertising smoking products, targeting the extremely conservative Orthodox (Haredi) community in Israel through advertising campaigns, thus promoting smoking addiction among the residents of that region.
A new study led by Israeli doctoral student Amal Khayat and co-authored by Yael Bar-Zeev and researchers from the Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine at Hebrew University in Israel was recently published in the academic journal "Tobacco Control". Titled "IQOS by PMI and cigarette advertising in the Israeli media: a content analysis across regulatory periods and target audience segments", the study examines the content of tobacco advertisements in Israel targeting specific groups of consumers.
Researchers analyzed marketing data from PMI to study the differences in advertising expenditures among several major population groups in Israel over the past four years, including the general population, Haredi communities, Arabic speakers, and Russian speakers.
Khayat stated, "In light of regulatory changes restricting tobacco product advertising, we have analyzed advertising expenditures for all PMI cigarette brands and IQOS brand (a heated tobacco stick introduced to the local market in December 2016).
Although restrictions on tobacco product advertising led to a significant decrease in the company's marketing expenditures, research shows that the company has been using legal loopholes in printing machines to subvert targets and maximize profits as much as possible.
Dr. Bar-Zeev explained that despite the law coming into effect, the company continued to spend nearly 3 million New Shekels on advertising, with a focus on print media. Although the law restricts print ads to one per newspaper, 40% of IQOS ads were huge double-page spreads that effectively doubled the advertising space for the product, while still being considered a single allowable ad under the law.
Another strategy utilized by PMI is to include QR codes in their advertisements, which allows readers to scan and view additional content outside of what is printed in the newspaper.
Furthermore, the advertisement shows individuals using IQOS devices to smoke in enclosed public spaces, despite laws prohibiting the use of any tobacco products in these areas. According to researchers, such ads give the impression that this behavior is legal, thereby taking advantage of the innocence of most consumers who may not be aware of these distinctions.
The study also found that prior to the enactment of this law, PMI significantly increased their advertising towards all reviewed populations, with a particular focus on the Haredi community, who had the lowest smoking rates in Israel before being targeted with PMI's marketing tactics.
According to Bar-Zeev, "Our data indicates that since introducing IQOS electronic cigarettes, 216 targeted advertisements have been released, of which 55% were created for the ultra-Orthodox community, 6% were created for the Arab public, and the rest were created for Russian-speaking audiences.
Similarly, 87% of cigarette ads are targeted towards the Haredi community, which is a surprising discovery as the company repeatedly claims to only be interested in marketing its products to existing smokers.
Bar-Zeev stated that the company is expected to focus on the population with the highest smoking rates in Israel - Arab males - rather than a population with almost no smokers.
According to research findings, Israel's 24th parliament has decided to cancel the exemption for print media advertising, but has ultimately postponed the implementation of this step for seven years. During the discussion, a series of additional restrictions were decided upon for this transition period, including the prohibition of using coupons, QR codes, and cigarette packaging that does not include mandatory plain packaging in print ads.
Bar-Zeev concluded that the restrictions were only a drop in the bucket because the study proved that tobacco companies found creative ways to continue marketing their products and addicting new generations despite the limitations. The researchers suggested that only a complete and immediate ban on all forms of advertisement, along with strict enforcement, could prevent such a scenario from happening.
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