After the lack of response to the claims made in 2019, we once again filed complaints with the Ministry of Health of the Nation, ANMAT and Defense of Consumers due to the illicit advertising of electronic cigarettes, carried out by the company Mig Vapor LLC in videos of musical artists broadcast through Youtube Argentina.
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On November 30, we filed a new claim with the Ministry of Health of the Nation for the illicit advertising deployed by the company Mig Vapor LLC in music video clips broadcast by the YouTube Argentina platform. The advertising contained in said videos consists of repeatedly showing artists consuming electronic cigarettes, constantly displaying the brand’s name in easily visible places, as well as providing a link in the description of the song that redirects to the brand’s website, where its products can be purchased without any type of control or impediment.
Since the Ministry of Health is the authority in charge of ensuring effective compliance with National Law No. 26,687 on Tobacco Control, we ask you to order YouTube, based on its status as an intermediary, to eliminate said audiovisual content produced in National territory. In addition, we ask that the links found in the description of the reported videos be removed and that redirect to the Mig Vapor LLC website. This claim consisted of a reiteration of the complaint made on October 2, 2019, due to the total lack of response from said body.
Likewise, on September 17, we presented an early dispatch to the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT), because this entity has expressly prohibited the advertising of electronic cigarettes in Argentina. However, we still do not get a timely response.
Finally, and in order to exhaust the various possibilities of claim granted by the Argentine legal system, we file a complaint with the Defense of Consumers. The action deployed by Mig Vapor LLC is part of a case of covert advertising, which due to its characteristics violates the rights of consumers, including to receive adequate and truthful information, to be treated with dignity and to adequately protect their Health. To this end, innumerable bureaucratic obstacles had to be overcome that reveal the serious difficulties in access to justice, not only for Civil Society Organizations, but also for Argentine citizens.
Through our complaint, we demand that the Defense of Consumers be the one who reliably notify Youtube Argentina to arbitrate the necessary means to control that the content that is reproduced through its platform, respects the tweet rules of the people consumers, the rights of children and adolescents, as well as the entire existing Argentine regulatory framework on tobacco control.
Currently, the tobacco industry continues to deploy its marketing strategy and, together with influencers, social networks are the showcase they use to circumvent the legal regulations of our country, and thus achieve their main objective, which is to promote and advertise their products, mainly, in children and adolescents. That is why we consider it necessary that both the State and the social network companies take measures that, in an effective way, allow to protect the rights of the youngest, as well as to put a stop to the predatory practices of commercialization of the tobacco industry.
Links to music videos:
- Chambea” – Bad Bunny
- “MotorSport” – Migos, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B
- “Krippy Kush” – Farruko, Nicki Minaj, Bad Bunny ft. Travis Scott, Rvssian
- “Solita” – Ozuna, Bad Bunny, Wisin, Almighty, DJ Luian, Mambo Kingz
- “Dos Corazones” – J Mena
- “Quién empezó” – J Mena ft. Cazzu
More information
Authors
Maga Merlo Vijarra
Laura Alesso
Contact
Agustina Mozzoni, agustinamozzoni@fundeps.org
