8/12/2019 Tobacco Plain Packaging
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O N THE I NTERNET N OBODY KNOWS YOU RE A T OBACCO C OMPANY
by Harry Blutstein *
What may be local politics in one country, may, for
transnationalcorporations, have profound impact on their global
strategy.
When Australia decided to force insist that cigarettes be placed
in plainpackages, all hell broke loose, and the tobacco companies
came huntingfor the government that could upset its global apple
cart.
If the Australian experiment as successful and smoking rates
decreased,then other countries ould follo its lead. !or Big
"obacco, this as apotential disaster, and Australia needed to be
stopped.
"he tobacco industry reached into its bag of tricks, hich have
served itell in past campaigns to frustrate efforts to reduce its
deadly trade. In
this case it turned to the Alliance of Australian #etailers, an
association ofsmall shopkeepers ho said that the policy ould damage
their business.As it turned out, this hastily created organisation
as no stranger to thebig tobacco companies, hich ere $uietly
bankrolling it.
When this failed it turned to lobbying foreign governments to
useinternational agreements on intellectual property to stymie the
proposedlegislation. As only countries can take action under the
rules of the World
"rade %rgani&ation, the unlikely antagonists ere 'uba and
(kraine.
Big "obacco)s argument is that plain labeling confiscates) their
intellectualproperty, namely their trademarks and livery, by hich
their brand isrecogni&ed by consumers.
+ust like past campaigns, Big "obacco has been able to convince
otherindustries that they too could be threatened. %n so, during
the A -'meeting in Ha aii in ovember /011, (2 'hamber of 'ommerce,
the
ational Association of 3anufacturers, the (2 'ouncil for
InternationalBusiness and the ational !oreign "rade 'ouncil lobbied
to Australian
rime 3inister."he campaign against plain packaging is intended
to blo smoke into theeyes of the public, diverting them from the
real game, hich is aboutrecruiting a ne generation of smokers.
ackaging reform strikes at theheart of their ability to appeal to
ne customers.
"he life blood of the tobacco industry has al ays been to
attract neconverts to smoking, ever since they started marketing
candy cigarettesto small children during the 1450s. In !ebruary
1440, hilip 3orriscommissioned a research report that pointed to
the potential for increased
* 6r Harry Blutstein is the president of 7roup Against 2moker8s
ollution97A2 :.
