I saw a commercial for Swisher Sweet cigars on streaming TV last night. Is this legal?
The first thing that came to mind was Donald Glover’s comedy-drama, “Atlanta”. One episode featured satirical Swisher Sweet ads. This is NOT what I saw last night!
I was watching Magellan TV Wildest, a free channel on Roku. I saw this ad between 1am and 2am.
The ad featured a group of hip looking young black folks in shiny, puffy jackets. They were in a dark lit house party scene or VIP area of a club. There was a shiny couch. They were living it up with Swisher Sweets. There was a slogan, but i can’t remember. Certainly similar to the ads on Atlanta, but no hint of satire.
Is there some kind of exception for late night streaming? Was this a hack/prank? Is it possible that streaming ads are tailored to the viewer, and Swisher is only targeting folks they believe won’t make a stink?
Who can I report this to? How can I prove it?
Did they make this ad so that I would look crazy on a message board? I know our memories are flawed, but i just saw this last night. I was shocked. Someone else had to see this. I tried to google, and all the hits are assuring folks that they must have caught a chunk of Atlanta. On Magellan TV?
OK, I’ll bite. It seems to be illegal to advertise “small” cigars on TV, like cigarillos, but not larger cigars. Swisher Sweets apparently has both small and regular sizes in their product line. I presume the commercial you saw had small cigars in it?
Is it possible that such restrictions apply to cable and broadcast, but not streaming?
The ad wasn’t for “little cigars”. It was for the flavored cigars that people generally only use for rolling blunts.
This is legal? I was shocked, because I don’t think I recall seeing a tobacco ad of any kind on tv in my entire life.
I’ve never heard of this. Is it a “real” TV channel, or a glorified online stream that happens to be available on Roku? (Insofar as the distinction can be made any more.) The ad regulators may not consider this to be television.
I’m afraid I don’t know how this works, but it does not seem to be a distinction that is important to the feds.
You are younger than I am. These days I don’t see cigar ads on TV either, which may be for economic rather than regulatory reasons. Perhaps they don’t want to publish the required warnings.
Federal regulations on tobacco product advertising are enforced by the FCC (broadcast only) and FTC (print and other media). Cervaise probably has the right answer, the channel/stream you were watching is probably not in their regulatory sphere. If you want to report this ad, you should probably start with the FTC and see where that takes you.
Swisher Sweets usually makes “cigarillos”, which are small cigars.
They do make full size cigars, but they call them “giants”. And I don’t believe they are “flavored”, so it sounds like it was a commercial for their smaller cigars.
You aren’t crazy. Here’s a Reddit thread from 6 months ago asking the same question about such ads on HBO Max.
My first thought was that rules don’t apply to streaming services (like Magellan TV) but others suggest it’s not the service, it’s the type of tobacco.
It might also be that the rules are not entirely clear when it comes to streaming so the company and the carriers are like “why not? Let’s run them until someone makes us stop.”
You can’t advertise tobacco on TV or radio. That is the law in the US.
Streaming is not a television broadcast, and often does not have commercials separate from content, but rather integrated into it.
The World Health Organization recommends a complete ban on all forms of tobacco advertising and promotion. While cigarette advertisements on traditional television and radio have been banned in the U.S. since the 1970s, these regulations do not extend to portrayals of tobacco in modern streaming content. Shete notes concerns that this gap may allow tobacco companies to subtly target and influence vulnerable populations while circumventing existing restrictions.
So most likely this wasn’t a “commercial” as you expect to see on a TV show or radio show, where they break away from programming to show an advertisement spot. Streaming services often integrate advertisements into their content. And it’s often up to the platform to regulate it, not the government.
Tobacco promotion is prolific on social media, with each platform setting their own restrictions on tobacco promotion and sales. We evaluated the policies related to tobacco product promotion and sales on 11 sites that are popular with youth in May 2021: Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Tumblr, Twitch, Twitter and YouTube. Nine of the 11 sites prohibited paid advertising for tobacco products. However, only three of them clearly prohibited sponsored content (ie, social influencers) that promotes tobacco. Six platforms restricted content that sells tobacco products and three tried to prohibit underage access to content that promotes or sells tobacco products. Although most platform policies prohibited paid tobacco advertising, few addressed more novel strategies, such as sponsored/influencer content and few had age-gating to prevent youth access. There is a pressing need to regulate tobacco promotion on social media platforms.
It’s a massive grey area, and tobacco companies are taking advantage of it.
Magellan Wildest is a “fake” streaming channel, it shows old content. I assume that there’s a “real” Magellan with paid subscription. I haven’t had “regular” tv in years, so I’m not sure.
Anyway, much ado about nothing if it’s legal. I was just taken aback.
I miss the White Owl, Dutch Masters, and other mass market cigar ads. I don’t know why.