- The secret and "sleazy" world of tobacco advertising
was exposed yesterday by documents revealing the tactics used to ensnare
the young and manipulate adults.
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- In a unique initiative, the Cancer Research UK centre
for tobacco control at Strathclyde University, in Glasgow, has created
the first internet database of "evidence".
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- It reveals how the tobacco industry "cynically"
promotes products that kill 13,000 Scots each year.
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- The launch of tobaccopapers.com provoked a scathing attack
on advertising agencies, condemning them for "their weasel words".
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- Documents reveal strategies to "grab them young".
A briefing paper by the CDP agency in London for Benson & Hedges says:
"We want more 18-34 year old blokes smoking B&H. We want these
dudes ripping-up Marlboro and Camel ... for Christ's sake, what the hell
are people doing smoking brands for 'cowhands'?
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- "We want to see B&H in the Ben Sherman shirt
pockets of Brit-popped, dance-crazed, tequila-drinking, Nike-kicking, Fast
Show-watching, Loaded-reading, babe-pulling, young gentlemen."
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- Another document reveals Hamlet cigars should be aimed
at boring, fat, middle-aged men who watch re-runs of The Sweeney.
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- In another, smokers who buy cheap brands are dismissed
as not being "rocket scientists".
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- In one communication, an advertising man declares a brand
of rolling tobacco should be made so popular that criminal "bootleggers"
will want to sell it.
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- And in a letter, an insensitive executive signs off saying:
"Keep smiling, no-one's going to die!"
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- The papers have outraged the anti-smoking lobby.
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- Jean King, Cancer Research UK's director, said: "This
is another step toward lifting the veil."
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- David Hinchcliffe MP, the chairman of the Commons health
select committee, said: "These papers show what the industry thinks
of its customers in its own words. It's damning."
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- In 1999, it was Mr Hinchcliffe's committee which ordered
agencies to hand over the papers relating to the tobacco industry.
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- Leading agencies, including big players such as M&C
Saatchi and CDP, were involved in work for Britain's two big companies
- Gallaher, which sells 21 billion cigarettes a year, and Imperial Tobacco,
which makes profits of £600 million.
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- The 14,000 documents - briefings, brainstorming session
memos and outlines - were written by staff promoting brands such as Benson
& Hedges, Hamlet cigars, Silk Cut, and low-tar cigarettes.
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- Professor Gerard Hastings, the director of the centre
for tobacco control research at Glasgow, said: "The tobacco industry
maximise commercial success at any cost.
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- "The documents relate to a period when advertising
was allowed. It was subsequently banned this year.
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- "But that only means agencies will come up with
more subtle ways of persuading the young to smoke or manipulate adults.
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- "They speak weasel words in a dark, sleazy world."
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- Doctors were particularly worried, especially for the
young.
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- Dr Jamie Inglis, a director with NHS Health Scotland
said: "There are 13,000 deaths a year; 30 per cent of heart disease
is caused by smoking and the hospital bill is £200 million.
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- "Every year, 26,000 teenagers have to be 'recruited'
and one in two will die."
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- Elinor Devlin, the Strathclyde analyst, added: "Smoking
advertising was aimed at youth and according to some, the 'secret of success
is getting them young'. There is manipulation - the use of white and thin
graphics on low-tar cigarettes; the use of words like 'clean' and 'pure'.
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- "One disturbing aspect was the apparent belief by
M&C Saatchi that Amber Leaf, a rolling tobacco, manufactured by Gallaher
should be so popular that criminals would sell it."
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- M&C Saatchi would not comment, but a spokesman for
Gallaher, which makes Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut, said that they
did not condone criminality and had respect for customers.
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- A spokeswoman for the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising
said agencies operated within regulations, many of which the industry created.
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- But Maureen Moore, the director of the anti-smoking group,
ASH, added: "This shows the tactics used to sell products that kill."
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- ©2003 Scotsman.com
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- http://www.news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1381642003
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