Although tobacco advertising has been more and more restricted in Australia since 1976 - with print, radio and television bans - this unscrupulous industry keeps finding new ways of getting "under the radar".

On this page you'll find:

NEWS
IN SHOPS
SPORT, MUSIC AND FASHION
THE PACKET AS ADVERTISING
"HARM REDUCTION"
TOBACCO'S LATEST SLICK MARKETING PLOYS (with pictures)

NEWS  

Preventative Health Taskforce recommends plain packaging
1/9/09: The Preventative Health Taskforce has recommended that Australia move towards mandatory plain packaging of tobacco - with bigger health warnings.  See Action Area 5, pp. 181-5 of  the report's  tobacco chapter 

Petrol stations fined $100k for tobacco promotion
13/8/09: The operators of Coles Express service stations in NSW, Eureka Operations, have been fined $107,000 and ordered to pay another $50,000 court costs after being convicted of verbally promoting discount cigarettes.  See  ABC news report 13/8/09  Tobacco industry "pushing to the pushers" in  ASH media release 4/7/09  and pics below

"Deadly in  pink": Big Tobacco's new assault on women and girls
18/2/09:  The tobacco industry has launched an aggressive new marketing campaign in the US, aimed at women and girls. A report by a coalition of public health groups warns that the campaign is putting the health of women and girls at risk and urges new regulations to stop it. See TobaccoFreeKids media release 18/2/09 with link to report and images 

Tobacco advertising and promotion is causally related to tobacco use
See  US National Cancer Institute's 5-year worldwide report (2008)

Tobacco industry's tricky fashion ploy
15/12/08: Cigarettes were sold in upmarket Adelaide fashion and hair outlets to lure young people into smoking. Behind the tactic was Australia's third largest tobacco company, Imperial Tobacco. The campaign was later withdrawn after protests. See  pics  below and report in  Sunday Mail, SA 14/12/08 

IN SHOPS

Lately the industry has been "pushing to the pushers" - with a range of prizes and other inducements to encourage retailers to promote brands.  See  ASH media release 4/7/09  and  pics below

SPORT, MUSIC AND FASHION

The tobacco industry is pushing its products to young people at music events - via tents and stalls, under sponsorship and other deals with event organisers. See  pics  below.  ASH and other health groups have called for these forms of tobacco promotion to be banned - some states have done this.  See  ASH / Heart Foundation media release 4/8/07  with link to recent article in Tobacco Control journal

There's a real inconsistency between stars turning out for cancer charities but smoking publicly and glamorously.  See Sydney Morning Herald article by ASH director Prof Simon Chapman

In a win for public health, the NSW Health Department successfully challenged Philip Morris and Wavesnet over advertising breaches targeting young women at a student fashion show. They pleaded guilty and were fined a total of $94,000. See an earlier (Melbourne)  promotion is in pics  below - and other recent marketing tactics that could be happening at a shop or event near you.  

And in sport, having gotten rid of tobacco sponsorship of Formula One racing in Australia, now we see MotoGP champion Casey Stoner bedecked in tobacco logos and watched by thousands of young Australians.  Spool down to  pics below

THE PACKET AS ADVERTISING

As promotional laws tighten, the tobacco industry increasingly turns to its last promotional tool - the packet itself - to pitch its deadly and addictive product to "new smokers" who are mostly children. The focus of health policy is turning to ways of countering package-based promotion of subtle marketing messages of glamour and success and replacing them with plain packaging and health messages that show tobacco in its true light. 

See our Action Page on Plain packaging 

Packet health warnings

• Uruguay is new world leader in packet health warnings
  3/9/09:  Uruguay has just announced a new set of six graphic warnings to cover 80% of the front and back of the package - leaving Australia further behind world-leading countries with big graphic warnings. Smaller countries are now leading the way, with Uruguay leaping ahead of Mauritius, which took the world lead earlier in 2009.  See the Uruguay warnings (click on "Presentacion")
  
  

• Preventative Health Taskforce recommends larger warnings
  1/9/09: The Preventative Health Taskforce has recommended to the Australian government that the size of health warnings on Australian tobacco packets be substantially increased.  See pp. 184-5 of  the report's  tobacco chapter 
  
  

• Australian health warnings effective
  3/4/09: Australian Dept of Health report on Australia's pack warnings says they've improved awareness, discouraged uptake and encouraged quitting.  See  report    But many smokers still don't spontaneously identify heart disease, emphysema or cancer risks, and many wrongly believe the dangers are exaggerated. See  Quit release 19/1/09  Current health warnings, including graphics and messages, at government site.  These were long delayed and reduced by tobacco industry lobbying.  See ASH release 26/8/04 
  
  

• Australia, US, UK, Canada: Packet warnings influence quitting
  10/2/09: Noticing and reacting to health warnings on cigarette packets has a significant impact on quit attempts, says a four-country survey from the Cancer Council Victoria in Addiction journal.  See  study abstract
  
  

• Worldwide
  Size matters - increasing size of health warnings increases warning effectiveness, as recognized in FCTC Guidelines - Article 11, Packaging and Labelling (2008).

  31/5/09: World report on warning labels from ITC Collaboration's 19 countries finds graphic pictorial warnings: (a) more noticeable and dominant than text warnings, (b) heighten awareness of smoking harms, (c) encourage quitting.  See the report 

  Canadian Cancer Society's international status report rates countries' warning labels using various criteria (i.e., size, use of pictorial labels).  See status report 2009

  Physicians for a Smokefree Canada webpage shows graphic warnings on cigarette packets from countries you select at the right of the page, including Australia. 

  Other helpful websites with info on picture-based package warnings, including showing images required by different countries:  Tobacco Labelling Resource Centre
  and Campaign for Effective Warnings on Cigarette Packs

  Old warnings need to be replaced/refreshed regularly. See European study (2003)  

  
  Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has fact sheets on Warning Labels, including facts, evidence, countering tobacco industry arguments, and examples by country/jurisdiction.  See the  factsheets
  
  

• Latest studies of effectiveness
  Major evaluations of the impact of graphic warning labels:
  
  - Worldwide report (2009) on warning labels from ITC Collaboration's 19 countries finds graphic pictorial warnings: (a) more noticeable and dominant than text warnings, (b) heighten awareness of smoking harms, (c) encourage quitting.  See the report 
  
  - Text and Graphic Warnings on Cigarette Packages: Findings from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Study (March 2007)  online
  

"HARM REDUCTION"

The tobacco industry has made several attempts to launch so-called "harm reduction" products to try to weaken advertising bans and further a "socially responsible" image. The latest is the "Heatbar" launched in Australia in 2007.  See article by ASH Board member Prof Simon Chapman in the  Sydney Morning Herald 29/8/07 

TOBACCO'S LATEST SLICK MARKETING PLOYS

	Massive internet loophole Advertising tobacco is supposedly illegal in Australia - but even children can easily access many websites offering discounted tobacco,  complete with colour pics.
Groovy horses target youth "Limited edition" packs popping up in Sydney (2009) featuring horses playing musical instruments with the slogan "Feel the Groove".
	Twin pack sleeves push discounts Sleeves delivered by BAT reps to shops in Sydney (2009) allow two single packs to be inserted and the resulting "2 packs" sold at $4-5 discounts - slashing excise and GST revenue to governments.
Tobacco sold on government property Kiosk on Sydney Central Station, 2009 sells tobacco in prime NSW government-owned location.
	Health warnings breach targets poor These packs of an East European brand minus any health warnings were sold in low SES areas in Sydney (2009) - Federal Health Dept and ACCC say they're unable to act because they were "one-off" sales. How many more such "one-offs" can we expect?
Pushing to the pushers  Expensive prizes offered to retailers by tobacco companies (2009)  as a reward for promoting tobacco  in shops.
Putting cigs in the "hip" pocket  Imperial Tobacco paid for its Stuyvesant brand to be stocked in upmarket fashion and hair outlets to lure young people into smoking. After objections, the promotion was pulled. See report in  Sunday Mail, SA 14/12/08	Have a look at what Imperial said  in pamphlets handed out to shop owners!
Inflight promotion This ad appears in the Sept 2009 issue of an inflight magazine distributed on China Air and 5 other Chinese airlines.
Casey Stoner:  Australia's new Marlboro Man  Our Young Australian of the Year,  role model to kids worldwide ...  who see him (Sydney Telegraph pic) riding in this 2008 MotoGP race  with his clothing, helmet and bike plastered with cigarette logos.  See  ASH media release 29/8/08
	Here's Casey again - front cover of the Sydney Morning Herald  sports section, August 28, 2009. It would have been easy for the paper -  and the Tele above - to photoshop the logos out of these photos. They chose not to.
Pushing tobacco to youth  at music events Byron Bay's Splendour in the Grass festival, August '07. One of many music events where tobacco companies push tobacco to young people in smoking tents - with DJs, comfy seats, young models  and stage-handy location.	GOOD MOVE:  Some state/territory governments have now banned mobile tobacco selling of this kind. We'd like to see all jurisdictions follow suit.
Importing tobacco ads One of four cigarette ads  in July 2004 glossy men's mag GQ - Australian distribution over 50,000 plus possible 90,000 more in cutdown composite with Vogue (see below). Note use of "alluring"  (also used in Oyster mag below)  - sounds so much nicer than "addicting", doesn't it.
	Smoking in Vogue Another imported promotion:  Actress Sophie Marceau on a cover  (August 2003) which would be illegal  if published in Australia  but is freely available in shops  as an imported periodical. Health groups have urged that this loophole be closed quickly under Federal legislation.
The Alpine Girls Promotions like this  at fashion shows  (this one in Melbourne)  were found to be illegal  and eventually led to  Philip Morris and Wavesnet   being fined for breaking  NSW tobacco advertising laws.
	The Alpine Fridge These displays of  chilling promotional bravado  are illegal in NSW  but they were still used in some shops  and have been sighted in other states. And see how they got it displayed -  from Philip Morris' files, 1995
Stuyvesant tins Silver containers promoting  Peter Stuyvesant cigarette brand,  handed out to the teenage audience  at a 2002 Sydney pop concert.  Very flash  - with the added advantage of neatly concealing health warnings  that might spoil the pleasure.  The manufacturer of the brand  say they had nothing to do with it.

Page last updated on 2/3/10