So YouTube is just like TV then?

Here’s a nice little twist in the world of tobacco advertising. The BBC has a report out about how big tobacco is now using the internet to promote smoking because it can no longer use traditional media like TV. See, told ya, the net IS like TV! The gist of their study is that impressions from videos on YouTube containing cigarette references or themes are just as dangerous as TV and print ads for smoking were/are. Granted, people have to actively seek out things on YouTube vs. sitting there and letting TV do its old school push thing, but to equate the net with TV reach is a stretch, innit? One TV spot reaching however many millions of people is different than a video with 40,000 views.

That raises a bigger issue though regarding how the net is viewed. If it’s going to eventually be thought of as just another media channel, then do the same laws and regulations apply there as they do on TV? WHAT SAY YOU?