How Social Media Influencers Market Harmful Products to Youth

Are “Zynfluencers” the new Joe Camel? Joe was the cartoon mascot used by R.J. Reynolds to sell cigarettes in the 1990s, until the government cracked down on marketing tobacco to youth. Today, according to journalist Emily Dreyfuss, social media influencers are using their platforms to push addictive and harmful products like Zyn, a nicotine pouch, to young people. In a recent New York Times piece, Dreyfuss writes that influencer marketing to kids “falls into a legal and technical canyon so vast that the next generation is being lost in it.” We’ll talk to Dreyfuss about the power of influencers and what parents need to know.

Guests:

Emily Dreyfuss, director, Shorenstein Center News Lab; co-author, "Meme Wars: The Untold Stories of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America"

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