Tobacco Control 2001;10:91–95 91 Tob Control: first published as 10.1136/tc.10.2.91b on 1 June 2001. Downloaded from NEWS ANALYSIS In the latest ad campaign, PM urges All articles written by David Simp- women to visualise a physiologically son unless otherwise attributed. challenging example of claiming Ideas and items for News Analysis power back from men: “See yourself should be sent to David Simpson at as a king”. Apart from being oVensive, the address given on the inside the implied suggestion that a king is front cover. superior to a queen may be as baZing to hundreds of millions of British Commonwealth citizens as it would have been to the female pharaoh from USA: getting it ancient Egypt who is portrayed in the wrong with women ad. But sex aside, the clearly intended associations of power, control, and the It is strangely reassuring how even the best things in life have caused angry biggest tobacco companies, able to critics to contrast the ad with PM’s hire the most sophisticated advertis- elaborate and expensive attempts to ing and marketing skills in the world, portray itself as reformed and socially continue to make mistakes. Philip responsible. Nowadays feminists are Morris (PM) started the year with a King George VI, the father of Britain’s current among the first to spot how tobacco comforting reminder of how even the monarch, smoked from the age of 14, had a cancerous lung removed in his early 50s, and companies exploit women, and they biggest of all can make blunders, died of heart disease at the age of 56. when it launched the latest round of have given PM a double beating: not ads for Virginia Slims. only has it shown extraordinary politi- This is the brand aimed at “young time was mainly about being cal incorrectness, but once again has http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ adult female smokers”, as its advertis- patronised as “Baby”, the company demonstrated the contempt with ers would probably say, or girls, as dropped the oVending B word and which it views women’s health. cynical health experts might prefer to just told women they had come “a However, perhaps the company has describe the target audience. Virginia long, long way”. inadvertently taken its new public Slims advertisements have irritated More recently, there was the “Find relations position to the ultimate feminists and health advocates alike Your Voice” campaign, featuring extreme, subtly admitting the unpar- since the earliest ads informed beautiful women from diVerent alleled dangers of its products. After women, whom they addressed as cultures and countries (Tobacco all, “Find your voice” could have been “Baby”, that they had “come a long Control 2000;9:134). However, that a slogan specially designed to engage way”. Whereas it had been taboo for was discontinued after PM’s chief the dark, subconscious fears of young their mothers’ generation to smoke, executive, Michael Szymanczyk, was women who saw the powerful public- they suggested, it was now OK to questioned about the ads, presumably ity generated by Janet Sackman, the on September 28, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. smoke, and a symbol of their new, none too comfortably, during the his- former Lucky Strike model whose hard won independence. After a toric Engle trial in Florida, which laryngectomy was necessitated from drubbing from leaders of the women’s resulted in record damages against the consuming the brand she once movement, whose concern at that industry. promoted. As for the “See yourself as The latest ad campaign by Philip Morris targeted at female smokers—“See yourself as a king”. www.tobaccocontrol.com 92 News analysis Tob Control: first published as 10.1136/tc.10.2.91b on 1 June 2001. Downloaded from a King” ads, what most people know the Horeca portal is the possible asso- As PM comfortably assures its about ancient Egypt’s pharaohs is ciation with BAT and thus tobacco. A young friends, it does not want to find almost entirely associated with their key success factor is developing a cus- the best solutions to their problems tombs, which so often received their tomer perception that the site is instead of letting the teenagers occupants at a young age. And then trendy and “happening”. Any adverse themselves do it, and it certainly there was King George VI, father of news articles from trade or consumer doesn’t want to tell them what to do. the present head of state of America’s press may prove damaging. BAT, Instead, it will simply oVer under- old colonial ruler and now ally, the which denies that the initiative is standing and partnership, in really UK. Having smoked from the age of underhand, or that it is a tobacco friendly terms, to help the youngsters 14, he had a cancerous lung removed marketing tool, hopes to attract find the very best answers to the ques- in his early 50s, and died of heart dis- 600 000 unique users by the end of tions they are most concerned about. ease aged 56. Maybe PM wants young 2001 and to achieve a top 50 rating as Hungarian parents must feel deeply women to see themselves as that king? a wap/mobile telephone content reassured by the knowledge that their provider within 12 months. children have such well intentioned, The World Health Organization or trustworthy, and reputable new BAT’s internet progressive governments may one day friends. find ways to stop sneaky promotions marketing plan like this. Meanwhile, Action on Normally, a company wants maxi- Smoking and Health (ASH), the UK’s Gauloises: to mum visibility for itself and its leading tobacco control organisation, products when paying large amounts has cleverly poked a stick in BAT’s Oxford and the of money for advertisements and promotional wheel. In yet another other promotional activities. So it is demonstration of a huge transnational Middle East instructive to see that British company getting it wrong, ASH Until recently, Gauloises cigarettes American Tobacco (BAT) appears to discovered that BAT and its highly held minuscule market share outside be doing everything possible to hide paid consultants had forgotten to reg- France and Francophone Africa. its participation in an internet ister other, similarly named internet Made by Seita, the former French campaign to attract unwitting young sites. So while BAT’s test site is at tobacco monopoly, their distinctive consumers to bars and clubs where it www.citygorilla.com, ASH has put up aroma was as uniquely French as the promotes its cigarettes. a rival site cheerfully explaining the click of boules played by old men in According to a leaked internal truth, and linked both to BAT and to village squares on a summer evening. memo, BAT plans to invest £2.5 mil- health sites to explain just what is But now its new owner, Altadis, the lion (around $3.6 million) in building going on, at www.citygorilla.org. company formed from the merger of a new website (codenamed project The BAT site may also be used to Seita and the Spanish monopoly, Horeca) aimed at young people world collect personal details of smokers, for Tabacalera, seems determined to http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ wide. It appears BAT’s aim is to later direct marketing. BAT hopes to make it a serious competitor in the promote Lucky Strike and State build a database of 40 000 smokers in international marketplace. Express 555 brands to young its first year. This technique, known as In a centuries old nightmare of the smokers, at a time when many “permission marketing”, represents British psyche come true, the French countries are banning tobacco another potential loophole in anti- and Spanish are invading. Gauloises advertising. BAT has admitted that a tobacco legislation. And as we know, has been paying students to promote prototype site, City Gorilla, was where there’s a loophole, there’s a the brand in venues frequented by started in January, featuring Poland. tobacco company finding the best way university students in Oxford, Cam- Choosing a country with among the through. (See also Ad Watch p 196— bridge, London, and Brighton. As best anti-tobacco laws in Europe was Ed) everyone knows, tobacco companies presumably deliberate, on the basis do not want children to smoke, and that if the technique works there, it strenuously assert that nothing could on September 28, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. will work anywhere. A less challenging be further from their marketing second country, Belgium, was added Hungary: PM’s people’s minds. While many parents in March. may think their university aged Venues promoting and selling BAT tender loving care children still need a little protection, cigarettes are given a prominent posi- tobacco companies are allowed to tion on the site, which will not be for teenagers make free with students, on the basis linked to BAT or have any other obvi- Here’s one to make even the most that the large majority go to university ous tobacco associations, and will cynical tobacco control advocate aged 18. That a few that are some appear to oVer independent advice on reach for the anti-emetic. No doubt months short of this magic age, when night life. In fact, young web surfers shamed by BAT’s fine programme of children suddenly become adults and will be directed to bars, clubs or sponsoring community facilities such are fair game, can be dealt with by restaurants where BAT cigarette as health clinics (Tobacco Control chanting the glib, enticing mantra that brands are being handed out or 2000;9:361), Philip Morris has promotions are “Only for smokers promoted, which they can then be started a website for Hungarian teen- aged 18 years or over”.