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News analysisSLOVENIA: NEW BRAND CLAIMS TO BE“NO BRAND”Earlier this year, advertisements appearedat popular tobacco stands in the capital,Ljubljana, as a new cigarette brand, calledNo Brand, went on sale. The ads said, “MyBrand” and “Be true to yourself, there arealready too many others” and apart frombeing seen at retail outlets, they alsoappeared in a widely distributed freenewspaper, Dobro Jutro. The ads werecommissioned and the cigarettes producedby a company called Fumus, owned bytwo Slovenians with existing connectionsto the tobacco industry. It was immedi-ately apparent that the ads were associ-ated with tobacco products, as theyparodied the design of pack health warn-ings, using black lettering within a blackborder on a white background.
On the website of Fumus (http://www.fumus.si), an initial question, “FumusdWho are we?” leads to two declarations: “Iam 18 or over 2” and “I can think formyself”. Appropriate responses to eachquestion open themainwebsite, containingstatements such as, “Weare professionals inthe field of tobacco products. We are bold,we despise labelling and branding. Unlikethe multinationals we do not imposebrands on people by aggressive marketing,aswe do not aim to patronise consumers bytelling them how they should act andwhatthey should think.We standby the supremequality of our products.”
Continuing in away already recognisableas aimed at young people, the text developsthe myth of individualism being acquiredvia a cigarette brand, with statementsabout there still being “.room foruniqueness.Webelieve that the people havehad enough of others telling them what tobe. We believe that each individual hasenough creativity to invent his or her ownbrand.” It even claims, “Maybe a newbrandevery single new day. We believe thathonesty and integrity are the most impor-
tant values, in business as anywhere else.We believe we have created a product thatdoes not need a logo to prove its identity.”The packaging of No Branddwhich if
course is not no brand, but simply a newbrand, is standard and blank, apart fromthe insert, and features Slovenia’s manda-tory health warnings, albeit in blackcircles, not rectangles. The pack insertstates, “My BranddMaybe it is a strangefeeling to hold a pack of cigarettes that donot have a name. But you are not smokinga brand anyway. You are smoking ciga-rettes.We prepared them for all peoplewhoare independent, individual, think forthemselves and prefer a good taste toa brand name. Be an artist of your (bad)habit and create your own brand.”The pack inserts continue with the
assurance that “the taste will stay and thenamecanbe changedasyouwish.Beuniqueas the package you hold in your hands. Be
true to yourself. There are already toomanyothers.” German and Italian translations ofits text appear on the reverse.The advertising, packaging and wording
used in the Fumus website repeatedlysuggest that the new brand is aimed atyoung people, who want to feel smart andindividualistic, not following the masses,who fall for the big brands. No Brand istherefore likely to appeal to young peopleanxious to establish their own identity,and present themselves as smart andindividualistic to their peer group.Like all cigarette promotions, an addi-
tional bonus is the general promotion ofsmoking. Slovenia has ratified the Frame-work Convention on Tobacco Control(FCTC), but advertising at the point ofsale is still permitted. Unfortunately, it isnot certain that this type of advertisingwill be banned in the near future. In themeantime, therefore, new products can beadvertised and brands can be displayed.Legal counsel acting for tobacco controladvocates came to the conclusion that theNo Brand advertisement would contra-vene Article 10 of Slovenia’s law on therestriction of the use of tobacco productsif it could be established that it promotedthe general use of tobacco products.Clearly, and in direct contradiction to
what is implied in the name, the campaignis trying to establish a new brand whileadvertising is still permitted, but smokingin general is also being promoted. Smokerswill associate the imitation of healthwarnings with tobacco products due to thedesign, thus reducing their sensitivity toactual health warnings on the packaging.The effect is the sameas inbrand stretching,for example with branded T-shirts and inFormula 1 motor racing, where it is evidentthat no exact cigarette brand logo is neededto associate the image with the product.It is known that as other marketing
restrictions are imposed, the pack becomesincreasingly significant as a marketing tool.No Brand also uses positive, graffiti-likeassociations, in the same way as certainthought-provoking posters popular amongyoung people. This latest marketing ployshould alert the tobacco control commu-nity to a new strategy by a tobaccocompany and it must be countered quickly.
LUKA SOLMAJER
Society for Non-Smokers & Healthy Living,
Ljubljana, Slovenia
INDONESIA: WORLD CUP DEJA VUGigantic billboards appeared on the streetsof the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, in May,showing the “Big Five” (wild animals) of
Slovenia: a No Brand advertisement on the frontof a kiosk in Ljubljana (top) and a pack insertand pack of No Brand cigarettes (below). Thepack has the standard Slovenian health warningon the back, with text set within a circle, thesame style used in the kiosk advertisement.
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All articles written by David Simpsonunless otherwise attributed. Ideas anditems for News Analysis should be sentto: [email protected]
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South Africa playing football, connectingpeople all over Indonesia to the WorldCup. The only problem was, the bill-boards were advertisements for a localtobacco company, Djarum.
Like many other countries, soccer isIndonesia’s No. 1 sport and GudangGaram, the second largest tobaccocompany in Indonesia, was sponsoring thetelecast of the FIFA World Cup this timeround. For the record, FIFA has notaccepted tobacco sponsorship since 1988.For the 2002 World Cup, it even signeda memorandum of understanding withthe WHO and declared that particulartournament a Tobacco Free World Cup,kicking it off on World No Tobacco Day(31 May). However, when it comes totobacco sponsorship of telecast of thegames at the national level, FIFA tends totake a hands-off stance.
In 2002, despite the World Cup beingTobacco Free, its telecast to Malaysia wassponsored by Dunhill, one of the bestknown brands of British AmericanTobacco. Although health advocatesmounted an international protest againstthe tobacco sponsorship and made appealsto FIFA on the grounds that telecast of
a tobacco free World Cup could not besponsored by a tobacco company, FIFAwashed its hands of the issue.Now, eight years down the track, it is
déja vu in Indonesia. FIFA made no effortto tighten conditions on the way its nameis being associated with tobacco compa-nies. And as before, when Indonesian andinternational advocates registereda protest with FIFA, urging it to look intothe matter, FIFA made no response.Indonesia remains among the most
serious cases of the smallminority countriesrefusing to ban tobacco advertising. More-over, it is probably the only country in theworld this year where its young and oldwillhave watched the world’s biggest soccerevent sponsored by a tobacco company.Sadly, most don’t even know that sucha sponsorship is prohibited in most othercountries, including Indonesia’s neighbours.In May, many people around the world
were horrified to watch a video clip of twoyear-old toddler puffing on a cigarette andgoing through 40 sticks a day. But the horrorof the very young smoking in Indonesia isyet to touch the hearts of legislators.Last year, the National Commission for
Child Protection, an Indonesian non-governmental organisation, filed a judicialreview in the Constitutional Court to bantobacco promotion on television. Unfor-tunately, the government defended itsposition to allow tobacco companies theright to advertise on television and thisposition was upheld by the court.More than 90 per cent of Indonesian
children are exposed to television adver-tisements for tobacco. Although cigaretteadvertisements are not allowed to bescreened before 9.30 pm, tobacco spon-sored events such as sports are broadcast inthe early evening. According to theDepartment of Health FDA figures, over 60
per cent of tobacco advertisements violatethe restrictions. No action is taken forthese violations.Indonesia is the only country in Asia
that has not ratified the WHO FrameworkConvention on Tobacco Control. Thesooner Indonesia realises the need toprotect its people’s health, the earlier itcan halt the tobacco epidemic whichclaims more than 200 000 lives every year.But the horror of the very young smokingin Indonesia is yet to touch the hearts oflegislators and translate into bans ontobacco advertising and promotions.
MARY ASSUNTA
Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliancee SEATCA
UK: PRICE-BASED PROMOTIONS TARGETPOORImperial Tobacco, the United Kingdom(UK) market leader, previously establisheda reputation for ensuring that vast quan-tities of its brands were available cheaplyon the UK market by arranging theirexport from the UK to places such asAndorra,Moldova and Kaliningrad whencethey were then illegally re-imported.But it seems Imperial has now turned to
other means of ensuring its brands areavailable cheaply on the market. InJanuary 2010, a promotion was spotted ina newsagent’s shop in Stevenage, the mostdeprived borough in Hertfordshire,a county in the South East of England.John Player Special Silver, Menthol andKing-size, along with Windsor Blue,Imperial’s major ultra-low price brands,were being offered at well below marketvalue. At £4 (US$6) for one packet and £6(US$9) for two, smokers making a dualpurchase of John Player Special Silvercould make a saving of £1.52 (US$2.28)
Indonesia: a stand in a shopping mall in Jakartaadvertising tobacco company Gudang GaramInternational’s sponsorship of the telecast ofWorld Cup soccer.
Indonesia: a roadside billboard in Jakartaadvertising the Djarum tobacco company’ssponsorship of soccer, during the World Cupseason. Photo: Mary Assunta
South Korea: a special World Cup cigarette brand made by a local company, displayed at a retailoutlet in the capital, Seoul.
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per pack or 34 per cent compared withusual retail pricedthe typical price ina supermarket was £4.52 (US$6.80).
Further enquiries revealed that Imperialhad launched this promotional campaign inJanuary, specifically targeting other, similarareas of Great Britain: in addition toStevenage, the same promotion wasrunning in Chatham, Gillingham andLuton, all relatively deprived areas of SouthEast England, as well as in Glasgow, Scot-land’s largest city and home to many of itslowest income families. The campaign isset to continue throughout 2010.
Little is known about industry pricingstrategies in the UK, or in other markets,but price-based marketing is likely tobecome an increasingly important promo-tional tool as other marketing avenues areclosed. Imperial’s latest price list, dated 25March 2010, shows that all Imperial’scheapest brands are now available in price-marked packs at a discount below therecommended retail price. The small printon the list encourages retailers to obtainthese packs, noting their availability “whilestocks last.” With sales of these discountcigarettes growing, such observationsunderpin the need to prevent price-basedpromotions, as well as the industry’s use ofpackaging for promotional purposes.
KATIE GARMAN, BEHROOZ TAVAKOLY,ANNA GILMORE
Bath & London, UK
GERMANY: WORLD CUP SPECIAL EDITIONCIGARETTE PACKSAs the 2010 footballWorldCupapproached,a special edition of West cigarettes went onsale in Germany. It comprised a series ofpacks, each consisting of a photograph of
a supporter of a different national WorldCup team. Painted on the left cheek of thesupporter was theWest silver and red stripelogo. Painted on the right cheek was thenational flag of the team, such as Brazil,England, Germany, Italy, South Africa, andSpain. Each of the supporters had notice-ably white teethdnot what would betypical for a regular smoker.The special edition packs were them-
selves highly attractive advertisements forWest cigarettes that powerfully illustratedthe need for plain packaging.Moreover, thepacks showed how the tobacco industry isable to print colour pictures on its pack-aging to promote its brands, while at thesame time opposing government efforts torequire picture-based health warnings.
ROB CUNNINGHAM
Canadian Cancer Society
SWITZERLAND: PM’S U-TURN ON STREETSMOKINGPhilip Morris (PM) has recently made anabrupt about-turn in its public position on
Swiss smoke-free regulations. In the past,when it seemed that the spread ofsmoke-free laws across freedom-lovingSwitzerland might be stopped, PM used toridicule them, in effect urging the public tosee it as an outrage that smokers wouldhave to leave their workplaces and otherpublic places to smoke in the street.Advertising campaigns in the 1990sincluded one that appeared in local news-papers in 1995 showing smokers outside anoffice building, with the rhetorical head-line, “What is this policy which throwspeople out on the pavement?”Now, when most French speaking
cantonsdthemini-states thatmake up thefederation of Switzerlanddhave becomesmoke-free, a PM ad for its Marlboro Goldcigarettes, shows smokers outside,certainly, but this time they appear to behaving more fun than ever and the adproclaims, “Outside is in!” Far from beingpersecuted refugees, they are members ofa fashionable “in-group”. Not only doesPM appear resigned to smoke-free placesbeing here to stay, but its marketing peopleare clearly trying to position smokers as
Germany: packs of West cigarettes purchased in late May, 2010. Clockwise from top left are packswith the flags of Spain, Italy, England, Brazil and South Africa painted on the cheek of a footballsupporter. The pack in the middle of the bottom row is the regular West design.
UK: a display of cut-price cigarettes at a retailoutlet in a low income town.
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a fun group to belong to, a classic promo-tional ploy used by every tobacco companyto attract and maintain the youngestsector of its customer base.
BANGLADESH: WOMEN FEATURE IN NEWCIGARETTE ADSFor the first time, women seem to be thetarget of cigarette advertisements inBangladesh. In the past, women in mostcountries, especially low income coun-tries, had a sort of cultural protectionfrom diseases caused by tobacco. True, thiscame about from factors other than thosedictated by health concerns, even if theydid lead to women living longer than men.Cultural taboos and lack of control overdomestic budgets no doubt had manydisadvantages, but meant that womenwere slower to take up tobacco use andhence to succumb to tobacco-induceddiseases. When taboos have faded and
economic dependence on men has eased,and when women’s disposable income hasrisen, they have tended to smoke like men;and later, to die like men. Such transitionshave been accelerated by massive pressuresfrom tobacco companies which know thatonce the barriers are down, the market canbe more or less doubled.Bangladesh is one of the poorest coun-
tries in the world. Low levels of householdincome, female spending power andcultural and religious strictures have allcontributed to smoking remaininga problem largely restricted to men. Untilfairly recently, many public healthworkers would have found it hard tobelieve that the situation was likely toalter, or that tobacco companies woulddare to actively and openly encourage thechange.Just as in neighbouring India, early ads
encouraging women to smoke showeda woman standing by her mandherhusband, of coursedwhile he smoked.Sometimes one of the woman’s hands wasso near the hand in which her husbandheld his cigarette that at a glance it lookedas though she might be the one who wassmoking. Similarly, in Bangladesh, the firstcrop of ads that health advocates areconvinced are trying to encourage womento smoke contain similar ambiguities.
They do not show women actuallysmokingdyet; but they tend to includeboth a man and a woman in an atmo-sphere that suggests, if not intimacy, thena companionship that is at least partlylifted by attraction between the sexes. Inmost, a cigarette pack makes clear what isbeing associated with the image.In one recent example, however, an ad
for Marise, a cigarette made by a localtobacco company, no pack is actuallyshown. Instead, a tempting promotion isdescribed by extensive copy printed besidethe image. A handsome man explains tothe beautiful woman seated before him ata desk that if she collects empty packets ofMarise, they can be redeemed for specialprizes. The exact prize depends on thenumber of packs collected, but all arekitchen gadgets that most Bangladeshiwomen would love to own.The ambiguity here, of course, is that
the woman might not be collecting herown cigarette packs, but the empty onesdiscarded by her husbanddor so thetobacco company would probably claim(and if kitchen gadgets are top of her wishlist, perhaps she would not mind cleaningout his ashtrays while she is collecting hispacks). Nevertheless, health professionalshave little doubt that ads like this aredeliberately trying to portray smokingas an integral part of normal family life,and hence start recruiting women tosmoking. Close parallels can be seen withads used in the early days of recruitingwomen to smoking in the USA and otherindustrialised countries.Fears about such a softening-up of
women before a big recruitment drive arecompounded by romantic scenes shown inother brand promotions. In one for CastleFull Flavour cigarettes, made by a localcompany disinvested by the governmentin the 1970s, a young couple of affluentappearance and dressed in casual westernclothes sit atop a car looking ahead to a dayof travel, as the sun rises behind them frombehind soft hills at the far side of a lake. Thetwo words, “Adventure begins”, set abovea pack of Castle, comprise the only copyin the ad. They may be all too predictive.For women who are encouraged to join
their men as smokers, the adventure mayultimately lead themto places theywillwishthey had never seen. And only a few will beable toafford thehightechnologytreatmentsthat might offer some hope of amelioratinglife-threatening conditions caused by theircompletely avoidable addiction.
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Bangladesh: two of the latest cigarette adver-tisements that health advocates are convincedare trying to make smoking socially acceptablefor women.
Switzerland: an ad for Philip Morris’s MarlboroGold cigarettes, portraying smokers who haveto smoke outside as an “in-group”.
Switzerland: a Philip Morris ad from 1995campaigning against smoke-free workplaces.
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