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own admission through a right to infor- tobacco at the same time). It also high- News analysis mation (RTI) act reply, ITB committed lights the importance of legal measuresd 326 630 INR (approximately US$7250) to the FCTC and a strong national tobacco INDIA: COURT BANS TOBACCO BOARD guide the delegates on the field trip. This control lawdas well as the role of FROM TRADE SHOW was done despite the fact that India rati- vigilant civil society organisations and the The Global Tobacco Networking Forum fied the FCTC in 2004 and has a national judiciary. (GTNF) 2010, billed by its organisers as tobacco control law that prohibits direct UPENDRA BHOJANI, ‘ ’ The greatest tobacco talk show on Earth , or indirect promotion of tobacco in the VIDYA VENKATARAMAN was held in October in the south Indian country. Institute of Public Health, Bangalore, India city of Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore). After spotting the logo of ITB on the [email protected] The popular Indian slogan, ‘India shining’, GTNF website, civil society organisations encapsulating the optimistic spirit of mounted concerted advocacy campaigns, India’s ongoing economic resurgence, including writing to concerned political LEBANON: NOW IT’S E-SHISHA might well have been uttered by conference leaders, gathering signatures, organising Lebanon began the summer of 2010 with ’ delegates contemplating the country s a ‘walkathon’ protest, engaging media and the arrival of the supposedly sugar-free thriving tobacco market. However, it is in an online petition against the govern- ‘Diet Shisha’ (see Tob Control 2010;19:351) stark contrast to another aspect of India ment’s sponsorship of this private trade and recently ended it with the ‘Healthy today: around one million people dying event. Reacting to a question raised in the Shisha’, seemingly the water-pipe equiva- from tobacco related illnesses every year. lower house of parliament, the minister of lent of the electronic cigarette. d The conference the third of its kind, state for commerce and industry This latest arrival has been heralded as d previously held in Brazil and Thailand acknowledged concerns expressed by a ‘unique Lebanese invention’, with offered its delegates (only representatives NGOs, but justified the sponsorship in the ‘certification from Swiss laboratories’ and of the industry) a unique package of context of the mandate of ITB to promote registration throughout the world. A mass fi experiences. First, a eld trip to have Indian tobacco varieties. media marketing campaign has been fi a close-up view of tobacco elds, crop With no favourable response from ITB, ongoing through television, radio, online varieties, auction platforms, best practices the Institute of Public Health (IPH), and printed media. and interaction with tobacco growers. a Bengaluru-based NGO, filed a public A dedicated website with a nature theme Second, a two-day interactive meeting to interest law suit in the provincial (Karna- (www.healthy-shisha.com) describes it as present and discuss burning contemporary taka) court. In its third hearing on 17 “a new, smart electronic smoking device issues of the industry. The topics at the September, the high court ruled that such which provides you an alternative to interaction ranged from routine sponsorship amounted to indirect traditional tobacco smoking (using) ‘ ’ manufacturing issues ( sustainability , promotion of tobacco and hence violated advanced technology to provide the user ‘ ’ http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ ingredients ), to trade regulation and section 5 of the national tobacco control smoking sensations without any fire, ‘ policy ( FCTC: what it is, what it should law and article 13 of the WHO’s Frame- flame, tobacco, tar, carbon-monoxide, ’ ‘ ’ be , taxing to the max ). The event was work Convention on Tobacco Control cancer causing carcinogens, or offensive a closed one where, apart from stringent (FCTC). The court duly issued an interim secondhand smoke found in tobacco”. rules on eligibility to participate, there order directing ITB to withdraw its Seven ‘natural’ flavours are offered in the was also a strict code of conduct limiting sponsorship, its logo and any participation form of a liquid solution, with ingredients note-taking, prohibiting photography and in GTNF 2010. such as chocolate, bread, perfume, honey, presumably controlling press coverage Although a comprehensive ban on coffee and tea, which is why they claim (which was negligible). tobacco advertising, promotion and spon- “we call it Healthy Shisha.” Given the fact that leading Indian sorship is a long way off in India, this Interestingly, the website also includes and international tobacco companies verdict is a significant development a section on the dangers of both shisha on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. sponsored the forum, it is reasonable to towards it. It reflects the challenges and cigarette smoking, much of which has d conclude that much of the agenda apart faced by many countries that have state- been copied from the website of the US ‘ ’d from networking was promotion and owned tobacco operations or a conflicting Centers for Disease Control (CDC). celebration of the industry. Unfortunately, mandate (controlling and promoting Online purchase of various models of the Indian Tobacco Board of India (ITB), ‘Healthy Shishas’ is also offered, with a government entity established under the prices ranging, depending on size, from Union (federal) ministry of industry and the equivalent of US$150 to US$220, with commerce, was one of the sponsors. By its accessories such as car and solar chargers available. More than 50 individual designs of shishas are advertised in different colours and shapes, including one using This paper is freely available online under the BMJ soccer balls, seemingly for homes where Journals unlocked scheme, see http://tobaccocontrol. a sports enthusiast rules the roost. bmj.com/site/about/unlocked.xhtml Lebanese health advocates are concerned that this product is being All articles written by David Simpson widely marketed to the public despite the unless otherwise attributed. Ideas and absence of evidence of its harmlessness, items for News Analysis should be sent India: health advocates protesting about the and while using deceptive claims. They to: [email protected] Global Tobacco Networking Forum in Bengaluru say it will not only appeal to potential (Bangalore) in October. smokers as being harmless to consume,

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2007, under European Union law. Never- addition, the intimate style of presenta- theless, there was clearly more than tion of the model in Glamour’s series of a whiff of product placement. photographs does nothing to dampen First, the tendency of Philip Morris suspicion that the Marlboro cigarette International (PMI), makers of Marlboro, packs have not appeared accidentally in to circumvent regulations is well known her hands: she gives the impression of from other areasdfor example, even being dreamy, uninhibited and perhaps though tobacco companies have been almost ‘stoned’, and more than one of the legally bound not to pay for product pictures shows a glimpse of her under- placement in movies since 1998, research wear. The pictures offer conspicuous Lebanon: a scene from one of the television shows that Marlboro is still the leading accommodation of evidence that sexy advertisements for the new ‘Healthy Shisha’ brand on screen in US motion pictures. smoker stereotypes are associated with (water-pipe). As in this scene from one of the Second, PMI is notorious for successfully smoking susceptibility (see Tob Control ads, much of the time of each spot is in split- implementing surreptitious advertising in 2004;13:308e14). screen mode, comparing a regular shisha in movies as long ago as 1979, in Superman On PMI’s web home page the company black and white, with smokedthe child and her fi d II. Why should it not be nding a way to claims that children and adolescents do mother can be seen trying to wave it away ? opposite a ‘healthy shisha’ in colour and do it, even now, in magazines not belong in the target groups of its d without smoke. Third, there is strong evidence that PMI marketing strategies and therefore continues to conduct detailed research on among other policiesdit does not employ young adults and their lifestyles, in order models under 25 years old in its adver- to create the most effective promotional tisements. Also, offers for product place- but also that people will be enticed by the strategies. In this connection, it is worth ment are also said to be declined. ’ manufacturer s claim that they can now noting that the reasons young females However, one statement can be regarded ‘ ’ have their freedom back to smoke read magazines such as Glamour, being as true without reservation, namely indoors or wherever they want, including highly interested in their appearance and that ‘marketing is one of Philip Morris in currently smoke-free places. One in order to create an up-to-date, stylish International’s great strengths.’ version of the television advertisements image for themselves, are similar to those KARIN MARUSKA even portrayed a wife and child who were of girls and women for starting or Institute for Therapy & Health Research, no longer being exposed to secondhand continuing to smoke, as a perceived status ‘ Kiel, Germany smoke, as the husband used the Healthy enhancement and as a driving force for ’ Shisha. staying thin. [email protected] The marketing of this product began It is hard to imagine a better platform INDONESIA: WESTERN BANDS PLAY PIED http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ shortly after a month-long national media than fashion magazines from which to PIPER AT TOBACCO PROMOTION campaign against secondhand smoke, address a young female audience suscep- From 8e10 October, at Jakarta’s Ancol clearly playing into the public’s increasing tible to promotional messages; reading Beach, the Gudang Garam cigarette awareness of the dangers of tobacco, fashion magazines by adolescents is linked company was the major sponsor of Java particularly during the past year, when to a higher likelihood of smoking. In Rockin’ Land, one of the largest music new tobacco control legislation was festivals ever seen in Asia. Among the debated. line-up supporting the lead act, the The case is being followed by the Smashing Pumpkins, were Wales’ Stereo- National Tobacco Control Program within phonics, Australia’s Wolfmother and The the Ministry of Public Health, with Vines, and bands from several European a possible ban on the ‘Healthy Shisha’ countries. being sought. on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. Following calls by tobacco control JADE KHALIFE, GEORGES SAADE advocates for the bands to either pull out National Tobacco Control Program, Lebanon or demand that the tobacco sponsorship [email protected] be dropped, Wolfmother’s frontman Andrew Stockdale posted a notice on the GERMANY: NEW ACCESSORY OR PARIS group’s fanpage saying, “With the severity CHIC? of the issue of smoking in Indonesia, I In the December 2009 issue of the German completely understand that bands playing edition of Glamour, a leading European with promo girls handing out cigarettes fashion magazine, a young model isn’t going to help kids stop smoking in demonstrateddunder the title ‘Rendez- Indonesia. So it is without hesitation I vous in Paris’dwhat style Frenchwomen will now announce that we will be wear when going out to a party. In three cancelling our headline show . We are of the 11 pictures readers could see her very regretful to miss this opportunity to smoking and in two she was holding play to our Indonesian fans, though a Marlboro cigarette pack in her hand. hopefully in the not too distant future we ” However, the series of photographs was Germany: one of 11 photographs in a special can do more shows under different terms. not direct tobacco advertising, which has feature in the German edition of Glamour Wolfmother’s name disappeared from been prohibited in German periodicals, fashion magazine, three of which showed the the festival website for a day but then newspapers and magazines since January model holding a Marlboro cigarette pack. reappeared after apparent management

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intervention: ‘This one is for the fans in a million hits. My Indonesian public health The resolution expressed specific Indonesia who have parted with their very colleagues were very ambivalent about the support for Uruguay and measures it own cold hard cash to see Wolfmother. We publicity. While it focused unprecedented has implemented that have made it realize their (sic) are sponsors and we attention on smoking in Indonesia, the a pioneer in tobacco control in Latin neither support or condemn the sponsors global conversation that fl owed was all America. Evidence of industry interference affiliated with the festival,’ said the new about the boy’s irresponsible parents and in health policy was heard, among other notice. the need for more education. Rizal was examples, from Uruguay’s near neighbour, Had they been born at the time, would depicted as a freak show, with US network Paraguay, whose health minister told the band have played in South Africa ‘for crews dispatched to track him down in his delegates that tobacco industry opposition the fans’ under the then totally legal village and get him on film to make the was threatening to halt her government’s apartheid? Or would they have played ‘for world gasp in disbelief. What was missing efforts to comply with the WHO’s the fans’ if they’d have been born in the in any of the coverage was the role of the Framework Convention on Tobacco 19th century and a wealthy, then totally tobacco industry in lobbying to keep Control (FCTC). She cited recent presi- legal slave-trading company had stumped Indonesia a tobacco industry paradise dential decrees, banning smoking in up the sponsorship? But playing to help where publicity for international music enclosed public spaces and regulating a totally legal tobacco company promote acts like Java Rockin’ Land wallpapers the labelling and packaging of tobacco, smoking to a half-price admission for kids country’s media. respectively, which had been suspended gig? Hey . it’s ‘for the fans’. In an interview last year, Wolfmother’s due to legal injunctions and a challenge By clicking on the festival website and Stockdale reflected on his newborn to their constitutionality by the tobacco selecting ‘international’, the terms and daughter: “And you look at her and you industry, at both the national and inter- conditions tab showed conditions think, she’s four months old. What kind of national levels. numbered AeS. The final condition, S, world is she going to live in when she’s, you Twenty-seven countries, three-quarters was added in the week the criticism know, 40? That’s a scary thought.” The of all PAHO member countries, have began. It read, “One or some stages are scary thought is that nations like Indonesia ratified the FCTC. ThreedChile, Cuba sponsored by tobacco company and can still play open host to massive scale and Venezueladtax tobacco products therefore audience below 18-years-old or tobacco promotions and that international at 75 per cent of the retail price; nine pregnant woman are not allowed to enter entertainers are lining up to help the report that they have national or local the show.” But to those who clicked on companies sell as much tobacco as possible. laws that cover at least 90 per cent of the Indonesian entry portal, condition S In October, 700 delegates from 41 coun- their populations, with bans on smoking was missing. Western sensibilities about tries who attended the Asia Pacific Confer- in all enclosed public areas and work the tobacco sponsored festival being adult ence on Tobacco or Health (APACT) in places without exception; and 17 coun- entry were thus cynically catered for, but Sydney, Australia, denounced Indonesia for tries ban the use of misleading labels and http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ in reality, Indonesian kids were welcome being the only Asian country not to have require that warnings occupy more than and got half-price tickets. signed the FCTC; and urged foreign musi- 30 per cent of the main package surfaces. The bands’ decisions to play contrast cians and athletes performing in Indonesia Colombia and Panama have comprehen- with the action taken by American singer to boycott tobacco-sponsored events. sive laws banning all forms of tobacco Alicia Keys who in 2008 refused to play SIMON CHAPMAN advertising, promotion and sponsorship. a Jakarta tobacco gig, unless all sponsorship University of Sydney, Australia and marketing by Philip Morris’ Sampoerna USA: PHARMACY TOBACCO SALES BAN [email protected] brand was stopped. She got her way, as did In September, San Francisco expanded its American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson ban on the sale of cigarettes in pharma- earlier this year when she sang there. AMERICAS: WHO WARNS OF INDUSTRY cies, turning a judicial setback into Indonesia has over 73 million smokers, SUBVERSION a legislative triumph. on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. 95 per cent of them men. Around 66 per Health leaders meeting in September at In 2008, San Francisco became the first cent of men smoke. The country is one of the Pan American Health Organization US city to mandate tobacco-free pharma- a handful of which have yet to ratify the (PAHO), the Americas division of the cies, but the law came under challenge. WHO’s Framework Convention on WHO, vowed to counter attempts by the The Walgreens retail pharmacy chain Tobacco Control (FCTC). Indonesia has tobacco industry to subvert public health argued that it was being discriminated virtually no tobacco control policies or efforts aimed at protecting people from against because tobacco sales remained significant education programmes. British the harmful effects of tobacco use. legal in grocers with pharmacy counters American Tobacco (Bentoel) and Philip PAHO’s Directing Council, which brings and in ‘big box’ stores, huge retail outlets Morris (Sampoerna) are both massively together ministers of health and other that sell everything from toothpaste to car engaged in Indonesia, a kind of last fron- high-level delegates from throughout tyres. In June, the city’s First District tier of Marlboro Country. Despite the Americas each year, issued a reso- Court of Appeal sided with Walgreens, repeated unctuous statements from both lution stating that its members were agreeing that the big box store exemption companies about their corporate social ‘deeply concerned about misinformation was arbitrary and unfair. responsibility and not wanting youth to campaigns and legal actions’ sponsored by Rather than allow sales to resume at all smoke, they are frequent sponsors of cigarette makers and their allies against pharmacies, however, the San Francisco youth-oriented music events. Admission tobacco control measures. They called on Board of Supervisorsdthe city’s governing often includes free cigarettes. countries to publicise, to the extent legally councildvoted 7e3 to expand the ban, Earlier this year, pictures of a 2-year-old possible, the activities of the tobacco thus levelling the playing field. As City Indonesian boy, Ardi Rizal, were published industry, to expose their strategies and Supervisor Eric Mar, a co-sponsor of around the worlddGoogle shows over reduce their effectiveness. the legislation, noted, ‘Cigarettes and

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USA: PHARMACY ITEMS AMONG General’s report in 1964. The significance of A MILLION IN COLLECTION these early scientific reports is given added The satirical exhibit “Your cancer and drug context by the collection’s magazines from store”dsee leftdis just one manifestation the 1950s and 1960s that include planted of the career-long passion of Dr Alan articles by tobacco companies debunking Blum, family physician and founder of the the dangers of smoking covered by these US ginger group DoC - Doctors Ought early reports. Postage stamps alone, to Care (and first editor of this journal’s collected from all over the world by News Analysis section). In particular, he Louisiana chest physician Dr Jim Lutschg, has long refused to accept the inconsis- form such a large sub-collection that tency between medical, health and other selections have already been exhibited trusted leaders in society who have an separately (see Tob Control 2010;19:354). ambivalent attitude to tobacco, including Now this unique collection is so large, USA: the satirical exhibit “My Cancer and Drug pharmacies which profit from serving the with attendant access and storage restric- Store”, highlighting the inappropriateness of interests of health while at the same time tions, that Alan Blum and colleagues are tobacco being sold in some US pharmacies, is selling tobacco products. In the mid- searching for a permanent home for it that seen on show in Buffalo, New York State in 1990s, Blum saw that a convenience store will allow it to be used by future genera- 2009, with its creator, Dr Alan Blum and in Hartford, Connecticut was up for sale, tions of tobacco control researchers and a health promotion colleague, Rebecca complete with a historic collection: the advocates, as well as those studying the Murphy-Hoefer. seller had saved virtually all the cigarette history of medicine, marketing, tobacco pharmacies don’t mix. Pharmacies should advertising displays and other promo- control or any other of the many facets of promote healing and protect our health.’ tional items used in his shop over the tobacco and disease history that it Although the margin of the vote was not previous 20 years. Blum, long noted for his illuminates. [Enquiries: [email protected]] creative use of satire for education about high enough to be veto-proof, Mayor Gavin PAKISTAN: HEALTH ADS GO BUSSED Newsom is expected to sign the measure tobacco, purchased the lot. Thus was born into lawdit was his idea in the first place. the concept of Your Cancer and Drug Prior to the vote, the Safeway grocery Store. chain revealed candour in expressing its However, the pharmacy ephemera opposition to the ban’s expansion. comprises but a fraction of the tobacco Spokeswoman Susan Houghton argued, related promotional material and other “For us it’s kind of throwing the baby associated items, now numbering more than a million, amassed by Blum. The out with the bath water. We do obviously http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ have healthy foods in our stores, and we collection ranges from tobacco-branded do sell products that might be less healthy. advertising signs, sports bags, ash trays, For us it’s about providing an array of fashion accessories, T-shirts, caps, products for our customers.” Might be less cameras, CDs, mugs and other give-away healthy? This begs the question of Safe- items distributed by tobacco companies way’s next advertising campaign. Will it with the purchase of cartons or packs appeal to customers to “come to us for all of cigarettes and spitting tobacco, to your health - and less healthy - needs”? a Philip Morris Supports the Arts sweat- ’ shirt, an infant-sized Virginia Slims Tennis Even more intriguing will be Walgreens Pakistan: this graphic anti-tobacco advertise- t-shirt, 1940s get-well cards with a ciga- own reaction. In attempting to rally ment has been appearing on the backs and rette theme, a Philip Morris sign placed customers on its side in advance of sides of buses on the busy route between the on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. its successful court challenge, the chain at the bedside of hospital patients northern city of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the ‘ reminding them not to smoke in bed, an capital. They are sponsored by the ministry of noted, The proposal will force smokers ’ to liquor stores, tobacco shops, gas RJ Reynolds sales representative s book health, which hopes to obtain more funds so stations or other retailers that don’t carry from the 1920s with the same Camel that the campaign can be expanded. Bus travel is the most common form of public transport in smoking cessation products and don’t advertisement in more than 50 languages for placement in neighbourhood stores Pakistan, and if coverage could be extended to have pharmacists available for advice on d other city routes and to buses plying the long quitting.’ So, deprived of their tobacco and ethnic newspapers the list itself is almost an exhibit of the exploitation of trunk roads in the country, the eye-catching ads sales, will the company that boasts of could be seen by a significant proportion of a vast galaxy of promotional tactics to try offering ‘specialty pharmaceuticals and tobacco users in both urban and rural wellness services’ now drop nicotine to ensure that the world smoked as much environments. as possible. replacement therapy (NRT) sales and fi petulantly instruct its pharmacists to send It also includes signi cant publications that chronicle the history of tobacco smokers to gas stations for cessation Tobacco Control 2010;19:439e442. advice it knows they won’t get? control, such as original newspaper doi:10.1136/tc.2010.041103 headlines on the publication of the Royal STAN SHATENSTEIN College of Physicians of London pioneering [email protected] report in 1962 and the first Surgeon

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