Tobacco.org

• Skoal product placement in Playboy magazine 

Skoal—the manufacturers of “smokeless tobacco”—will have a 12-page section in Playboy’s 55th anniversary edition, which will be hitting magazine stands in January.

To bolster the campaign, Skoal selected playmate Kara Monaco and rodeo/football star Walt Garrison for the lead interviews in the company’s co-branded segment. Skoal, which is owned by US Smokeless Tobacco Co., also invited consumers to visit Skoalbrotherhood.com to present ideas as to what should appear in the special issue—including joke, models, etc.

The partnership marked Playboy’s first venture with a brand that produces user-generated content. It’s also the first time Playboy will produce additional issues for non-subscribers—those who participated in the “Skoal builds Playboy” promotion.

Skoal will also be presenting a promotion that will give web site visitors the chance to go in an all-expense-paid trip for four to Playboy’s VIP Players Pajama and Lingerie Party in March.

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Smokes alarm as fashion outlets targeted 

CIGARETTES are being sold at high-end Adelaide clothing stores and at least one hair salon, in a "tricky and desperate" tactic to lure new young smokers.

A Sunday Mail investigation has discovered smoke company Imperial Tobacco is lavishing trendy stores with cash incentives and corporate entertainment in return for stocking Peter Stuyvesant brand cigarettes in specially designed cigarette dispensers.

They sell from $9.95 to $11.70 for a pack of 20 cigarettes.

The tobacco giant's targeting of fashion-savvy outlets to push the trendy brand has prompted calls for a State Government crackdown to ban the practice.

Marketing kits distributed by the tobacco giant to fashion retailers describe cigarettes as being safe and fashionable: "It used to be extremely dangerous. Now the only danger is you're not the coolest cat on the block."

Quit SA and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon are appalled

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Illinois promotes smoking ban in ad campaign  

Illinois has a new media campaign to highlight the successes of the state's Smoke-free Illinois Act.

The television and radio ads start airing Thursday across Illinois. The act became law one year ago. . . .

In the 30-second ad, Burton talks about how business at his restaurant and bar hasn't suffered since the law took effect.

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A Neuromarketer on the Frontier of Buyology  

It sounds like a cross between "Mad Men" and "Weird Science": using magnetic resonance imaging to study brain waves and determine why people respond to some advertisements but not others. For a 20-year-old junior at Yale, the new field known as neuromarketing is the stuff not of sci-fi mash-ups but a potential career.

Emily Yudofsky has long been interested in behavioral science, no surprise given that both her parents are psychiatrists; her father, Dr. Stuart C. Yudofsky, is chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. . . .

Current ways to evaluate advertising are significantly flawed, Ms. Yudofsky says. “By going directly to the brain, looking at the regions involved in decision-making, it will make a great difference” in developing campaigns that effectively, say, curb smoking or discourage drunk driving.

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N.B. to ban tobacco displays  

Indeed, as of tomorrow, cigarettes and other tobacco products will no longer be displayed on so-called power boards behind shop counters.

The products, which studies have suggested attract the attention of consumers in general and young people in particular, will have to be kept in a drawer, under the counter or in another part of the store that can't be seen by customers.

Advertisements for tobacco products sold in the store will be limited to black ink on white paper that is no larger than 10 centimetres by 10 centimetres.

Health Minister Mike Murphy says the new rules, which are similar to current regulations in place in Saskatchewan, are the next crucial step in the fight to keep cigarettes out of the minds and mouths of young New Brunswickers.

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• Cigarette groups warned Lynch of Marxist and IRA alliance dangers 

Tobacco adverts ban: IRELAND'S MAIN cigarette brands privately warned the taoiseach three decades ago that a tobacco advertising ban could plunge the country into disaster by sparking a deadly fusion of Marxists and the IRA.

State files also reveal fears in Jack Lynch's department at the time that moves to curb smoking could become another contraception-type row that would embarrass the Republic and isolate Protestants in Northern Ireland.

The chairmen of Carrolls, Gallahers and Player Wills tobacco companies demanded a meeting with Mr Lynch in 1978 as then health minister Charles Haughey prepared new laws to stamp out cigarette promotion.

In minutes of the meeting, newly-released into the National Archives, an aide of the Taoiseach records how the three men warned of potentially dire consequences from any restrictions.

They argued it would cut back on their sales, leaving them less money to create new employment in other non-tobacco industries.

"They saw the dangers that if employment was not provided for our growing young population, there could be a fusion between Marxism and the IRA, with disastrous effects for the country," the minutes state. . . .

Later that year, the Tobacco Products Act was passed into law which allowed for restrictions to be introduced.

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• NGOs urge shops to get ready for cigarette law  

With only two weeks until the new Tobacco Hazard Prevention and Control Act (菸害防治法) takes effect, civic groups yesterday urged shop owners who sell cigarettes to make sure that their display areas comply with the new law.

The new regulations, effective on Jan. 11, not only prohibit smoking in public spaces, but also stipulate that owners of establishments that sell cigarettes, including convenience stores, supermarkets, restaurants and betel nut stands, may not actively market or display tobacco-related ads.

The regulations will also apply to airplanes and duty-free shops at airports.

“Under the new rules, any place that sells cigarettes is limited to ‘letting the customer know the cigarette brand and price.’ Any action beyond this limitation is considered a violation,” said Yau Sea-wain (姚思遠), president of the John Tung Foundation.

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MP says Govt's smoking laws not enough  

The Nationals' Member for Northern Victoria, Damien Drum, says the State Government's new smoking laws do not do enough to stop young people lighting their first cigarette.

Smoking in cars carrying children will be banned from 2010, and retailers will be banned from advertising tobacco at the point of sale from 2011.

The Government will also ban smoking on school grounds.

Mr Drum says the laws could be brought in earlier and do not do enough.

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This World, Bannatyne Takes on Big Tobacco 

Duncan Bannatyne, multi-millionaire and the scourge of Dragons' Den journeys to Africa to explore the rise in the number of kids smoking, and the activities of one tobacco company in particular. He uncovers evidence of the extraordinary marketing tactics of one British-based cigarette company which he believes are encouraging kids to smoke. His sharp business brain forensically gathers the evidence and then confronts the company back in London. But this is not just a hard hitting investigation, this is an emotional journey for Bannatyne. An ex -smoker himself, he loves Africa and in his travels he has a laugh with a tobacco grower, he is teased by the dinner ladies at a school in Malawi where he helps to cook the dinner, and he has to deal with the cockroach in his hotel room. He also meets kids as young as 11 who are not only smoking 10 a day, but also trying to make a living selling cigarettes.

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UA Research: Cigarette Ads Still Affect Children  

University of Arizona researchers have found that children and young adolescents remain vulnerable to cigarette advertisements .

UA marketing professors Merrie Brucks and Melanie Wallendorf – an expert on consumer consumption, marketing and the social aspects of consumer behavior – are part of a team analyzing the psychological effects of cigarette advertisements and how such commercialization impacts children and young adolescents.

Based on their findings, the team supports "the policy of preventing children from exposure to any form of cigarette advertising," said Brucks, the Eller College of Management's Robert and Kathleen Eckert Professor of Marketing and the project's principal investigator.

That would include the strengthening of prevention programs and and improved effort to regulate advertising.

The team's findings will be published in an article titled "Youths' Understandings of Cigarette Advertisements," which will appear in the January issue of Addictive Behaviors . . .

"Our study showed that the youngest kids did not typically focus on brand meanings for any of the ads – tobacco or otherwise. For cigarette ads, this was still true for the vast majority of kids in fifth grade," Brucks said.

But when a child was able to pick up on the brand name in a cigarette advertisement, the likelihood of being susceptible to smoking grew by 182 percent.

The research team noted that "initial exposures to cigarette advertising (and the positive portrayals of smoking contained therein) should increase youths' willingness to experiment with cigarette smoking."

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• Iowa town scores win over billboard  

Lake View lives another day.

A controversy over anti-tobacco billboards featuring this small northwest Iowa town was resolved when Lake View leaders complained and state officials listened.

Lake View Mayor John Westergaard was aghast last month when he realized Lake View had been featured as part of a statewide marketing campaign sponsored by Just Eliminate Lies, or JEL, a youth-led anti-tobacco group that works with the Iowa Public Health Department.

The billboards feature an ominous message, one that shines a light on the estimated 1,200 people who die from tobacco-related illnesses in the United States each day.

"Lake View. Tobacco can kill this town in 1 day," the signs read.

This month, the Public Health Department shocked Westergaard again. The Lake View signs have been replaced. . . .

Most of the complaints he has received have been over the lack of communication between state officials and town leaders prior to the billboards being erected. "That was an oversight on our part. We didn't feel the message was controversial."

In the future, the agency will work with town leaders before bringing such an ad into the community. But it will continue to launch new anti-tobacco campaigns in Iowa.

"Big tobacco is in your town already," Buttermore said, referring to advertisements at local convenience and grocery stores. "Nobody is raising a fuss over those signs."

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Lake View. Tobacco can kill this town in 1 day.
JEL's anti-tobacco sign featuring Lake View, IA (pop: 2100) created a big fuss.

Big tobacco is in your town already. Nobody is raising a fuss over those signs.
Garin Buttermore, the JEL youth coordinator, referring to advertisements at local convenience and grocery stores.

More letters 

LETTER: It can't hurt to make smokers aware  

When it comes to anti-smoking, I can't count the times that I've heard someone complain about "preachers," and "do-gooders," as well as some slightly more off-colour names for these activists. Many smokers feel nagged and even targeted by nonsmokers to change their entire lives, but is this really the case?

In his article "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Contraband" Jim Merriam supports the sale of contraband cigarettes and attacks the anti-smoking community as being too preachy. . . .

Yes, there are people like Jim Merriam who have seen how bad tobacco products are and have had the sense to quit, but others are so uneducated on the subject that organizations like Public Health have to continue to find new ways to reach out to them.

For example, I recently attended the International Plowing Match in Teeswater. Public Health set up a display with a pig lungs demonstration. . . .

However, many people wrongly seemed to believe that if they quit they would be fine in a few weeks. I was astounded by the sheer number of people who knew no more than that "smoking is bad." It was quite sad to hear a hint of plea or desperation when people asked: "It'll look like the good lung eventually, right?" . . .

The point I'm trying to make is that while advertising is occasionally annoying, it is also still necessary health advocates are not trying to preach or tell you to be more like them. They are trying to educate people to understand the choices, not telling them which choice to make.

I am not what people like Jim Merriam may call a preacher or a goody two-shoes.

I'm a typical 17-year-old working at a fast food chain, listening to loud angry music at home, flirting with girls, and generally acting out. I've smoked a cigarette before. I've done many things that I wouldn't dare to put in print. It's not just paid government officials or uptight snobs who want smokers to be more aware. We all do.

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Anti-smoking group welcomes new bans  

Anti-smoking campaigners have welcomed new bans to be introduced in Victoria.

The Victorian Government will ban point-of-sale cigarette advertising and smoking in cars carrying children.

It will also become illegal to smoke on public school grounds.

Quit Victoria policy manager Kylie Lindorff says it is hoped the new advertising restrictions will lead to fewer children taking up smoking.

"It's advertised like it's a normal product - it's near lollies, it's near milk and bread," she said.

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Anti-smoking lobby wants plain packets  

PLAIN cigarette packaging is set to be the next battleground for anti-smoking groups, after they won another series of victories yesterday.

VicHealth chief executive Todd Harper said anti-smoking groups would lobby the Federal Government next year to legislate for plain cigarette packaging, which would show nothing but a large, graphic health warning and the name of the brand.

The State Government yesterday announced bans on smoking in cars containing children and in schoolyards. Retailers will also have to put cigarettes in a cupboard or under the counter, announced only by a plain sign and a price board.

Mr Harper said packaging would be the next focus. "The packet is where the tobacco industry positions a lot of the image and attributes that they want to appeal to existing and new smokers," he said. "This would be resisted very strongly, but that shows how important it would be to achieve low levels of smoking."

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