Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Awarded for Exposing Big Tobacco’s Social Media Tactics

Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has been recognized with a Silver Anthem Award for its global public awareness campaign #SponsoredByBigTobacco, which highlights how the world’s largest tobacco companies are aggressively targeting youth on social media. The campaign was selected from more than 2,000 entries across 30 countries and was recognized in the Global Awareness Campaign category. 

#SponsoredbyBigTobacco was launched with a report by Tobacco-Free Kids in December 2023. The report found that Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco, two of the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco companies are generating billions of views online with ads promoting tobacco and nicotine products on Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok. More than 40 percent of the audience viewing tobacco and nicotine ads on social media are young people under the age of 25, according to the report. 

The report followed previous work by Tobacco-Free Kids that exposed for the first time how the world’s largest tobacco companies used social media to secretly advertise cigarettes online in more than 40 countries. Tobacco-Free Kids’ work to curb social media marketing by Big Tobacco has resulted in policy changes from the world’s largest social media platforms, strong restrictions on online marketing by governments, fines for Big Tobacco companies and united calls to action from hundreds of progressive organizations around the world.  

In February 2024, 183 Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) adopted specific guidelines on cross-border advertising of tobacco products including on social media. These guidelines will now provide nearly every country in the world with a path to stop tobacco companies from targeting youth on social media. 

“We are thrilled that #SponsoredByBigTobacco is being honored with this award,” said Yolonda C. Richardson, President and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “Tobacco companies continue to infiltrate social media to egregiously target kids around the world – we’re grateful to the Anthem Awards for amplifying our campaign as we continue to call for strong action from governments and social media platforms to protect youth from Big Tobacco.” 

#SponsoredbyBigTobacco was supported with research by Grassriots, a Canadian-based non-profit marketing agency. “We are honored and proud to receive this award in collaboration with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, showcasing the social web as a powerful tool to confront the tobacco industry’s misconduct,” said Ryan Baillargeon, Founder and CEO of Grassriots. “Reports like this shed light on the significant challenges in addressing harmful marketing and demonstrate how social intelligence can elevate global awareness, drive advocacy, mobilize action and ultimately inspire meaningful change." 

Launched by the prestigious Webby Awards, the Anthem Awards honor purpose and mission-driven work by people and organizations across the globe. To learn more about #SponsoredbyBigTobacco please visit: $1$2www.tobaccofreekids.org$3$4.