Trackinga Moving

Target

An update on Tobacco Industry

Marketing and Promotions

Content

– A little background first

– New and evolving tactics:• Bar promotions and event sponsorship• Point of sale promotions & Powerwalls• Tactics on University / College Campuses• New products & Regional marketing

tactics • Smoking in the movies & video games

Tobacco Marketing Expenditures

– From 1987 – 2000 industry spending on marketing and communication significantly

– In 2001 & 2002, Canadian tobacco companies spent over $300 million on marcom (NSRA)

Landmark Change to Tobacco Marketing in Canada

– 2003: the Federal Tobacco Act bans sponsorship advertising in Canada

– Advertising is now tightly regulated

Tobacco Marketing Expenditures today

Today’s estimates of actual marketing costs are obscured by new definitions:

• Hidden sponsorship • Packaging • Increasing pay-outs to retailers for

countertop displays and Powerwalls

Du Maurier “Signature Packs”

– “Restrictions on tobacco marketing in Canada limited our options.

– “We needed to differentiate ourselves. We needed to give consumers something that provided added-value.”

– “This left us with one way to develop and grow our brands – the pack itself”

Bar Promotions

What’s new in Bar Promotions & Sponsorship

– Promotions have become more subtle

– Sponsorship extends to entire bar

– Sponsored club renovations including DSRs, outdoor & patio smoking areas

– Similarly subtle event sponsorship

Seven Nightclub and Lounge

Export A’s “silent” event sponsorship

– Initiated in 1998– Expanded in 2001– Currently sponsor:

• Wakestock• Extreme Music Fest• X-team bar visits

across Canada

Not so silent, is it …

Point of purchase promotions

Redirected towards Point of Purchase Sales

Restrictions on tobacco

advertising and promotion

+ the

Elimination of sponsorship

= Resource

Re-allocation

http://www.nsra-adnf.ca/cms/file/pdf/Tobacco_Powerwalls.pdf

Power walls

–Convenience stores are the Industry’s main channel for marketing and distribution

–Arguably the most important advertising medium available to the tobacco industry (NSRA)

http://www.nsra-adnf.ca/cms/file/pdf/Tobacco_Powerwalls.pdf

Power Walls

– $300M spent on marcom in 2002

– $77M paid to tobacco retailers in same period for stocking tobacco products (NSRA)

– The average convenience store receives $1,500 a year from the tobacco industry (ACNeilson)

Preferential pay backs

– POP advertising expenditures are higher in convenience stores near schools and malls

– More money spent on POP to stores on university campuses

– Student Federation @ UOttawa offered $7500 to stock power wall displays at their campus store,

– Tobacco Free Ottawa U successfully lobbied against this sponsorship and the SF stopped accepting $’s in 2005

POP … not just for youth

Tobacco on campus project

• 22 universities surveyed

• All had been approached and had participated in a form of tobacco marketing

• 76% sold tobacco products on their campuses (stores, bars etc)

Tobacco on Campus

Smoke-Free policies

• Regulate smoking mainly in residences, or campus bars

• Few regulated campus-wide

• Only U of T has rules against investing their (OUR) funds in tobacco companies.

Tobacco NOT on campus

– Growing list of smoke-free campuses:• Dalhousie, Lethbridge, Lakehead,

Carleton

– New movements• Alberta’s Tobacco Free Campus

advocates for policy changes across the province

• E-BUTT• Leave the Pack Behind

– Similar research to that done on impact of tobacco use in films (Villani, S. MD)

– Primary effects of media exposure (video games) are increased violent and aggressive behavior, and increased high-risk behaviors, including alcohol and tobacco use

Smoking in video games

Journal of American Academy of child and adolescent psychiatry (2001)

Smoking in Video Games

– Entertainment Software Ratings Board

– Ratings more comprehensive and specific than the film industry

– 24 content descriptors (on back)– Includes tobacco reference and use

Smoking in Video Games

– One search for tobacco reference yielded 7 games

– 4 rated “everyone”

– 3 rated “Teen”

Why must tobacco be referenced in children’s video games ??

In summary

We’ve talked about:• Target marketing in bars,

campuses• Slient Sponsorship• Point of sale promotions • Smoking in video games

Call to Action

1. Support youth-driven tobacco industry denorm !

2. Expose hidden industry marketing tactics

3. Document actual marketing costs including listing fees and pay-outs to retailers

4. Advocate for policy change and a province wide ban on smoking and tobacco sales on Ontario university / college campuses

5. Denormalize tobacco industry products aimed at youth

6. Endorse the exclusion of tobacco use in movies and video games