This, I believe, was a departure in tobacco marketing in Canada. I could not recall a previous time when tobacco companies recruited such a direct and sales-focused type of 'paid influencer'.
One might have thought that this practice was banned by Canadian tobacco law, which has for many years told manufacturers that they can't offer prizes, money or other inducements to purchase tobacco products. (IQOS and other heat-not-burn devices are considered tobacco products under federal law).
The ban was recently reaffirmed when the federal Tobacco and Vaping Products Act was overhauled in 2018:
29 No manufacturer or retailer shall
(a) provide or offer to provide any consideration, for the purchase of a tobacco product, including a gift to a purchaser or a third party, bonus, premium, cash rebate or right to participate in a game, draw, lottery or contest...
Six months have passed since Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada filed a complaint to Health Canada about the IQOS referral offer yet the IQOS referral web-site is still active (referiqos.com).
Which brings us to JUUL.
Yesterday, JUUL presented me with a similar, if somewhat less lucrative, offer. As the e-mail presented the offer, every referred adult smoker who makes a purchase gets a discount of $20 on their account, with a similar credit given to the person who referred them.
The federal law sets different rules for vaping promotions than it does for tobacco. You are allowed to offer cash or other 'considerations' -- but only in a physical store ("retail establishment") to which young persons do not have access.
30.6 (1) No manufacturer or retailer shall, in a place to which young persons have access,
(a) offer to provide any consideration, for the purchase of a vaping product, including a gift to a purchaser or a third party, bonus, premium, cash rebate or right to participate in a game, draw, lottery or contest; or
(b) offer to furnish a vaping product in consideration of the purchase of a product or service or the performance of a service.
(2) No manufacturer or retailer shall, in a place other than a retail establishment where vaping products are ordinarily sold,
(a) provide any consideration, for the purchase of a vaping product, including a gift to a purchaser or a third party, bonus, premium, cash rebate or right to participate in a game, draw, lottery or contest; or
(b) furnish a vaping product in consideration of the purchase of a product or service or the performance of a service.
Influence peddling
Tobacco companies have long known that peer pressure is a driving force for uptake of nicotine. Imperial Tobacco Canada (BAT) infamously studied the role that peer pressure played in teenagers - its Project 16 report found "there is no doubt that peer group influence is the single most important factor in the decision by an adolescent to smoke."
New communications technologies now allow the companies to harness the power of peer pressure -- and the law seems unable to prevent it from happening.
Everything new is old again
For a century, tobacco companies have pioneered marketing strategies and pushed the envelope of marketing codes and legal restrictions. For decades, governments have been caught flat footed, unable to keep up with, let alone control, the inventiveness and deep pockets of marketers. The difference now is that we know the consequences of regulatory inaction.
If paying people to encourage their friends to use use of addictive and harmful products is permitted under the federal TVPA, then a new law is needed.
