china social media advertising law case study

8/10/2019 China Social Media Advertising Law Case Study

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Organization: Tobacco Free Assembly (TFA)

http://www.weibo.com/tobaccofreeassembly

Country: China

Title: Case Study: China Tobacco Control: Social Media Advertising Law Campaign

Overview (China)

Date: January August 2014

Context

A process to revise the National Advertising Law in China gave our campaign an

opportunity to advocate for the removal of loopholes and place further restrictions on

tobacco advertising in China.

- Using social media, our campaign mobilized the public and key opinion leaders

(legal scholars/influencers) to drive greater awareness around the issue and submit

formal public comments to the government during the public comment period.

Action

TFA organized 30+ organizations and key influencers to coordinate on social media to

mobilize people to submit comments to the State Council or show their support on

comprehensive TAPS ban.

- These posts categorized under the hashtag #tobacco advertising kills# got over 6

million impressions and generated, 3,000 comments. This hashtag became the most

impactful tobacco control topic on Weibo.

- An online voting system with our partner, Impact Law Firm, got 495 votes

supporting a comprehensive Tobacco Advertising, Promotion, and Sponsorship(TAPS) ban. The vote activity was reposted 1,496 times and got 744 comments.

- Content was also posted by our partners, China Association for Tobacco Control,

Impact Law Firm, Beijing Childrens Legal Aid Center and WHO, showing broad

coalition participation.

- Work with key opinion leaders in the legal

Result

Initial feedback from government contacts indicate that, after the comment period, they

decided to delay their announcement on the law until August to account for additional

points of view, indicating that our campaign has had impact. Additionally, once told

about the volume of activity online, government decision-makers requested a print out

of the comments people were making online to gauge public opinion on the issue. After

the first reading, a ban on outdoor tobacco advertising was added to the amendment.

- During the public comment period for the National Advertising Law, all the content

posted or reposted by TFA mobilized 56,065 readers, generated 21 likes, 297

reposts and 103 comments.

- Between the public comment period and first reading of the National Advertising

Law, the hashtag #Tobacco ads kills# got more than 7.78 million reads and 5,000discussions. An online poll got 4,736 votes supporting comprehensive ban on all


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TAPs, and this activity got 1,629 reposts and 420 comments on sina Weibo.

- Before the first reading the hashtag #ban all tobacco advertising# got 15 million

reads and 6,000 discussions. There were also over 135,089 visits to the minisite and

2,380 comments collected.

Examples of Work

Time Action goal Activity

March16-24,

2014

-

Mobilize people tosubmit comments

through the State Council

website

- Create content that

helped people

understand the loophole

in the advertising law.

- All the content posted

used the same hashtag

@TFA: 34,613 reads, 8 likes, 177 reposts, 64 comments.- Posted on Weibo to give people a preview on TAPS ban and why

we call on TAPS ban, read 5,203 times, reposted 39 times, 12

comments.

- Created content to educate people on how to submit comments

through State Council website. It was read 8,989 times,

reposted 44 times, 9 comments.

On 9.24Sina social

On 9.25@ @

In 9.26-27@ @

On 9.28@

On 9.23@

On 9.29@

m = million


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- Posted 5 pieces of content on the loopholes of advertising law,

alerted people to know how many days were left for public

comments. These 5 posts reached 20,421, 94 reposts and 43

comments.


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March

20-24,

2014

- Mobilize our grantees to

post related contents

through their social

media account

NTI tailored 5 posts for CATC on the loopholes of the Advertising

Law, including the content of How to submit comments through

the State Council website.All of these comments reached 9 likes, 9

reposts and 6 comments.


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One of our grantees BCLAC (BJ Children Legal Aid Center) also

posted content on How to submit comments through State Council

website through their WeChat channel.

April

2014

- NTI posted on the

relevant comments on a

TAPS ban.- Coordinated with WHO to

@TFA continued calling for a comprehensive TAPS ban, mostly from

the perspective of young people. @TFA posted 4 items, with 18,754

reads, 11 likes, 89 reposts and 26 comments.


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keep this issue alive

Coordinated with WHO to uncover the tobacco industrys intention

for new types of advertising, pointed out that the government has

the responsibility to protect people, especially minors from the

temptation of tobacco. @TFA reposted 3 posts of @WHO, had

reached 2,698 reads, 2 likes, 31 reposts and 13 comments.


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china social media advertising law case study

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