Smoking "Prolific" On Youtube, Call To Use It For Quit Campaign

Images of smoking are prolific on YouTube, according to an Australian-based researcher, and consideration should be given to using the video sharing website to mount a quit campaign.

Becky Freeman, from the University of Sydney, told the Oceania Tobacco Control Conference in Auckland, New Zealand today, that tobacco advertising bans have eroded direct promotional opportunities. Tobacco companies, she said, are embracing more covert means of keeping their products in the minds of consumers and potential consumers.

Given the potential for the anonymous use of YouTube to reach a massive audience, particularly youth, by both promoting and culturally undermining smoking, our research looked at just how much smoking content there is on the website, Ms Freeman told the 370 international delegates.

The research found the term "smoking" returned almost 30,000 videos. The top 50 were classified into six categories: Anti-smoking, Female Smoking, Male Smoking, Smoking Fetish (smoking associated with erotica), Comedy, or Magic Trick.
"We found that fetish and female smoking videos were the most watched pro-smoking videos," Ms Freeman said.

"YouTube's aim has always been the sharing of amateur videos. However, questions have been raised about the authenticity of some of the videos on the site. Both users and media commentators say some videos might be covert advertisements, posing as entertainment or consumer generated media."
Ms Freeman said YouTube is just as obvious a vehicle for the dissemination of anti-smoking messages.

"If the material is entertaining and amusing it can become very popular. Producing unique content for YouTube, as opposed to posting already existing television campaigns, is a strategy that needs to be explored and evaluated for effectiveness.

"There is potential to conduct a very cost effective YouTube quit campaign."

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