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A wide range of media outlets, including social media, expose users to tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS). The global media landscape has substantially changed since the adoption of the 2008 “Guidelines for Implementation of Article 13”. Entertainment media is increasingly available on a regional or global level, including through the Internet, which can result in cross-border TAPS exposure. The consequence of this shift in technology is that current approaches to controlling TAPS may be insufficient.

This new and rapidly evolving media environment coupled with the lax regulation of social media communication platforms, including the over-reliance on platform self-regulation, means that extending comprehensive tobacco bans to effectively include cross-border TAPS is incredibly challenging. In addition to strong domestic regulatory action and international action, both regionally and globally, through Party cooperation will be required to reduce TAPS.

Other challenges include: 

  1. The popularity of content-sharing platforms, including social media, enables users to be content creators and sharers. People can view and share digital media freely, easily and quickly. This situation has blurred the lines between consumer and brand owner and poses a challenge to controlling cross-border TAPS.
  2. The changed media landscape and types of TAPS means that regulations may no longer be fit for purpose and may require updating and future-proofing against emerging TAPS.
  3. Countries only banning cross-border TAPS that originate in their own countries, not those that are broadcast into the country but originate from outside.
  4. Difficulty in distinguishing between paid vs. unpaid depictions of tobacco use and brands.
  5. Difficulties in identifying the origins, both country and creator/owner, of TAPS content, particularly online.
  6. Challenges in systematically documenting and capturing both tobacco industry promotional activities and tobacco depictions in entertainment media.
  7. Countries that have not ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) may also be a source of cross-border TAPS.
  8. Young adults are a highly desirable target population for this type of TAPS, and limited research, resources and policy action have been directed at protecting this age group from TAPS exposure.

Detailed legal analysis and further reading on challenges: Kenyon, Andrew T. and Liberman, Jonathan, Controlling Cross-Border Tobacco: Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship - Implementing the FCTC (August 2006). U of Melbourne Legal Studies Research Paper No. 161, Available at SSRN:
http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.927551