Chinese tobacco firms advertise online in loophole

Chinese cigarette firms have been accused of dodging a ban on conventional advertising by finding new ways to market their products online.

These companies have established online smoking communities, posted tobacco-themed micro films, and even developed Internet games that incorporate cigarette branding.

On the website of "Yanyue," which literally means "smoke pleasant," netizens are being invited to take part in a jigsaw puzzle contest. Players will find the picture they complete is the logo of a cigarette brand. All prizes are packs of cigarettes.

The Longyan Tobacco Industrial Co., Ltd. has implanted one of its brands into an online soccer game, and invested in the shooting of a micro film called "the time travels of a cigarette."

"All these online acts are essentially tobacco advertisements," said Li Qiang, a researcher with the Tobacco Control Office of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC).

China signed the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2003. The convention stipulates that signed parties should comprehensively ban all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

Under the country's Advertising Law enacted in 1994, tobacco ads are not allowed in broadcasts, movies, television shows, newspapers or periodicals, and should not be placed in waiting rooms, cinemas, meeting halls or stadiums.

However, online tobacco advertising has become a legal loophole, said Li.

He said a tobacco control policy evaluation launched by China CDC found 68 percent of smokers and 84 percent of non-smokers "disagree" or "strongly disagree" with the notion that tobacco companies should be allowed to advertise at will.