Selling bad health
Laws restricting tobacco product advertising have driven some companies to find other publicity alternatives. Rasha Sadek investigates
Last year, Law 85/2002 which bans tobacco advertisements on television, radio, newspapers, magazines or billboards came into effect. The law also prohibits selling cigarettes to youngsters under the age of 18.
While these restrictions have been applauded by anti-tobacco lobbyists, companies are fighting back by circumventing the law and using more subtle advertising techniques. Although the law now bans visual, auditory or written advertisement, some tobacco companies are establishing direct contact with their consumers, shifting emphasis from mass media communication towards relationship marketing, often on a one-to-one basis.
British-American Tobacco (BAT) has recently hired agents allegedly to conduct "customer feedback". BAT, which produces 300 brands of cigarettes worldwide, markets three in Egypt -- Lucky Strike, Kent and Rothmans. One agent who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity said he promoted BAT products among his smoking friends and acquaintances. He has been directed by his employers to approach non- BAT smokers, offer him/her a BAT product and ask for their opinion. The agent is directed to repeat this encounter four times, in hopes of hooking the client on a BAT product.
According to the Weekly's source, an agent is required to present BAT with proof of 20 contacts per month. 25 per cent of the contacts should be positive, meaning that a smoker has switched to BAT products. "I get a monthly salary of LE300-400 and 30 packs of the brand I promoted," he said.
BAT's Corporate and Regulatory Affairs (CORA) manager defended the practice, saying that "BAT Egypt responds to requests from adult consumers for information about our products. Consumers also provide the company with useful feedback and comments regarding our products. BAT Egypt doesn't conduct promotional activities, or any other activity that contradicts Egyptian tobacco law."
BAT does apparently abide by the part of the rule prohibiting under-18 smoking.
"Neither I nor other agents approach non-smokers or smokers less than 18 years old," another BAT agent told the Weekly. The company "actively supports" the age limit decision, according to the CORA manager. Youth smoking prevention programmes, in BAT's opinion, are a necessary component of product promotion.
However, the Regional Adviser for WHO's Tobacco-Free Initiative Dr Fatimah El-Awa notes that "each and every form of direct or indirect tobacco advertisement is illegal. The games and tactics tobacco companies follow are well known." According to El-Awa the examples of indirect advertising are numerous. "Smoking scenes will be inserted into movies when unnecessary. Also, there is the sale of candies in the shape of cigarettes," she said.
Commenting on the phenomenon of BAT agents, Sami Ghanem, head of the Smoking Control Programme affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Population, expressed anger with what he described as tobacco companies tireless efforts to expand their markets. "It's an endless war. They never cease to sneak in the backdoor," he said.
After Law 85 was issued, Phillip Morris and Lotfi Mansour, the agent of Marlboro and Merit in Egypt, published articles in the national papers entitled: "the third campaign against juvenile smoking". According to El- Awa, this is merely another form of disguised advertisement. "The ads use the famous technique of reverse psychology using phrases such as 'we launch this campaign out of our strong belief that the young shouldn't smoke. Only adults can smoke'," she explained.
Law 85 came as the result of over two decades of ongoing struggle with the tobacco industry in Egypt. In 1981, late President Anwar El-Sadat signed Law 52 limiting tobacco advertisement to cigarette packets only, displaying the components and a health warning.
But the success of passing Law 85 has yet to show tangible results in tackling epidemic smoking in Egypt. Ghanem stresses, "The law must be activated with no negligence." And this, according to the anti-tobacco activists, includes confronting more subtle advertising and smoking-promotion schemes.
