Key Points:
- Leveraging F1 Events: Vuse expanded its brand exposure from 17,000 followers to nearly 14 million through its partnership with the McLaren racing team, with racing videos becoming its most-viewed content.
- Embedding in Trendy Scenes: By featuring in music festivals and “Get Ready With Me” videos, Vuse strongly associates itself with nightlife, fashion, and young female audiences.
- Opaque Influencer Collaborations: Out of nearly 700 partnership tags, only 14 disclosed the label #ad, showing a lack of compliance and transparency.
- Exploiting Regulatory Loopholes: The global account bypasses UK and Instagram advertising bans through branded content, maintaining entertainment-driven and cross-border dissemination.
- Cross-national Regulatory Challenges: The study calls for a unified global regulatory framework for social media, stronger enforcement, and tighter restrictions on e-cigarette brands targeting youth.
The Australian media platform THE CONVERSATION studied the marketing activities of Vuse, an e-cigarette brand owned by British American Tobacco (BAT), across its global social media accounts.
The research team analyzed all content posted by @Vuse.Worldwide on Instagram between August 2023 and August 2024, uncovering the strategies used for brand promotion.
Expanding Influence through F1 Collaboration
One of Vuse’s core marketing strategies is its partnership with the McLaren F1 racing team. The Vuse logo appears on the racing cars and is widely disseminated across global social media.
Through cross-promotion with McLaren’s official account, Vuse was able to extend its reach from around 17,000 followers to McLaren’s vast audience of nearly 14 million.
The study found that four of the most popular videos were related to racing collaborations, with one exceeding 225,000 views.
Leveraging Music and Lifestyle Scenes
Beyond motorsports, Vuse has deeply engaged in marketing through music festivals, fashion, and social settings. The study found that among the brand’s ten most popular posts, four were short videos in the trending “Get Ready With Me” style. These videos, often created by young female influencers, casually placed e-cigarettes into daily routines such as makeup or outfit choices, thereby strongly associating the brand with lifestyles of “trendiness, entertainment, and nightlife.”
In addition, Vuse collaborated with DJs, artists, and social media influencers to co-create content. However, out of nearly 700 tags involving brands or individuals, only 14 disclosed #ad or paid partnerships, revealing a significant lack of transparency in compliance.
Exploiting Policy Loopholes to Maintain Exposure
According to the report, under UK advertising standards, corporate social media accounts are only permitted to publish “factual” content and are prohibited from using entertainment-driven or influencer-based promotions. However, Vuse’s global accounts effectively bypassed this restriction by posting “brand-associated” content, thereby evading the advertising ban. Instagram’s policies also contain loopholes: while the platform prohibits paid ads and influencer endorsements, it does not cover brand-owned content on corporate accounts.
The research team pointed out that this strategy enables Vuse to maintain high-frequency exposure within youth-oriented environments, while cross-border content remains difficult to regulate under the laws of a single market.
Research Conclusion
The researchers called for the establishment of a more unified global regulatory framework for social media, along with stronger cross-border enforcement, in order to truly limit the potential impact of e-cigarette companies using social platforms to target younger audiences.
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