British American Tobacco (BAT) is among four e-cigarette sellers banned from promoting their products on public Instagram pages after adverts appeared alongside pictures of well-known celebrities.
BAT claimed its posts that included pictures of Lily Allen, Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek and other famous faces only “provided information” to users and were not adverts.
The advertising watchdog disagreed, stating in a ruling that the posts “clearly went beyond” providing facts and were intended to promote vaping products.
Adverts for BAT, Ama Vape Lab, Attitude Vapes and Mylo Vapes were all banned in a decision hailed as a “major step forward” in stopping companies marketing addictive products online.
In May, more than 125 anti-smoking organisations called on social media companies to immediately prohibit influencer marketing of tobacco and e-cigarettes on their platforms.
Tobacco companies use influencers’ accounts to get around existing online advertising bans, but the social media companies have not yet changed their polices on influencer marketing of tobacco.
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