TY - JOUR T1 - Industry marketing of tobacco products on social media: case study of Philip Morris International’s IQOS JF - Tobacco Control JO - Tob Control DO - 10.1136/tc-2022-057833 SP - tc-2022-057833 AU - Lorien C Abroms AU - Christina N Wysota AU - Sararat Tosakoon AU - Amal Khayat AU - Zongshuan Duan AU - Yael Bar-Zeev AU - Carla J Berg AU - Hagai Levine Y1 - 2023/03/16 UR - http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2023/03/22/tc-2022-057833.abstract N2 - Significance Newer tobacco products might be particularly likely to use social media as they emerge in the global market. Little is known about the official use of social media in marketing heated tobacco products (HTPs). This study examined Philip Morris International’s (PMI) social media marketing globally of its leading HTP, IQOS.Methods PMI IQOS country-specific official websites were accessed (N=59) in May to September 2022 and social media accounts listed were recorded. Accounts were then coded for their number of posts in the past month and year and for their number of subscribers. Posts on online accounts with at least one past-month post were categorised to describe the post’s function: instructional, general advertising, price promotions or event promotions.Results Of the 59 country websites, 45 (76.3%) listed at least one social media account; of these, an average of 2.5 accounts (SD=0.8) were listed. Across websites, 111 accounts were identified: 42 Facebook, 23 YouTube, 21 Twitter, 19 Instagram, 2 Telegram, 1 LinkedIn, 1 KakaoTalk, 1 VK and 1 LINE. Across YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, accounts made 2550 past-year posts and had ~490 961 subscribers. Of the 165 past-month posts, 101 (60.1%) functioned as general advertising, 30 (17.9%) instructional, 29 (17.3%) event promotions and 8 (4.8%) price promotions.Conclusion Social media posts were used to engage consumers with advertising, event promotions, product use instructions and price promotions. The study provides evidence of the company-sponsored official marketing of an HTP via social media globally, underscoring the need for monitoring and tobacco control regulatory efforts in the digital arena.Data are available upon reasonable request. Data are available in online supplemental appendices 1 and 2. ER -