Tobacco.org

CONDE: Why the Eraserheads’ Reunion Concert Sucks 

But my beef against their supposed Aug. 30 concert, however, is that it smacks of shrewd, even manipulative marketing, by ******, the makers of ******. The Internet is awash in stuff about this event. Not a few hinted that this is viral marketing at work. In fact, the buzz is so loud that ****** has earned so much marketing points already. It can actually cancel the event and still walk away happy.

My suspicion is that ****** is doing this because beginning this month, cigarette companies are no longer allowed to have advertisements in print, radio and television. And without advertisements, products like cigarettes would be nearly impossible to sell.

Although the new law explicitly prohibits cigarette companies from sponsoring events such as concerts, they can, however, still be part of the event. And this being the Philippines, it’s not so hard to imagine the many ways ****** can insinuate itself into events like this.

Indeed, I’m fairly sure that the buzz this concert has been getting on the Internet is part of ******’s strategy.

Jump to full article »