SMOKING AND HEALTH
This mor-ning we'd like to discuss smoking and
health with you, the issues
that are involved. It is not an area which incurs
a great deal of research
activity but it can sc~,etimes create some
technical research problems and it
is of cc--rse, of vital importance to many of us,
in that it directly relates
to cur livelihood.
Could we start by coing round the various
countries represented here, layinq
out any Tr~:blems and iz-=ues that may be relevant
to smoking and health as far
as you are concerned. '.4hatever they are, could
you also cover:
any adver-:isira restrictions you have:
nicctine and tar declaration requirements;
any smc;-,4-ng and health research you 'have done:
government att-,tudes to smoking:
yo,--r opinion of consumers attitudes in respect
of:
awareness and concern about health aspects;
'the social --ceptability of smoking;
any anti-smoking activity.-
any Tar'--.etinc or P.R. activity relating to this
issue.
The situation is:
- tele-Asic-i advertisinc is banned;
- other advertising is severely restricted in
content;
- the tar croup is printed on the pack-lo-,
middle-hl=6i and hiqh and a governmental healt'n
arninc is clearlv
shown:
- leac--e ti~"-les of brand tar and nicotine
levels are c u b 1 _4 sn ed
frc7 time to time
Legal restrictions on s-.oking are gradually
increasing and more public areas
are beina tarted t= srrc-ina whilst work places
are increasingly hostile to
smokers.
Tar and nicotine le-.,els in ciaarettes have
declined and many smokers have moved
to lower tar brancs, ui---ch t!iis movernent has
largely stabilised and some low
tar smokers have -cved back uo the tar scale when
they found they were srckinc
r---~- lcet tar cic3:ettes than before they moved
don. U4
C:)
BATCo document for Province of British Columbia I
November 1999


Public attitudes have moved quite rapidly to the
stage where s.-okerS nrs
t-?comina isolated, frequently being identified as
anti-sociAl.
in situations like this it becomes very necessary
to monitor '.he n3t,_;rs .-7_4
extent of public attitudc3 to smoking in order to
assess the type and Zize
the prcblem. Cne needs t:: ccnsider smokers,
ex-s-okers and never
seperately in s-.:ch a case.
Anv incre;isinc; aareness and concern aoout the
dangers of s;_~'-inc:
has strcna mar-etinq implications. n terms of
existing brands, --:-.e,,- =7.cL;__4
cernin-1-.., not cme seen as possibly more harmful
than competitive crar._~.s ':f
similar tar levels but, possibly Tore importantly,
the company need tc nave
lcwer tar brands ready tc meet a building demand.
In the J.K. at --'.-,is stace, it was a vain
endeavour attemptinc tc find
tar blends that cz:uld achieve any reascnable
level of acceptan:-2
existing higher tar blends (even t= tne extent of
80/20 pre-'erences).
necessary to mcve in small steps and -to be verl
careful in sampling- t:
potential lo,er tar smokers - also a :7.atter of
health concern and a
to consider the cossibililtv of smckinc a lower
tar blend. Also te-
nature of the taste and flavour expertize has no
dc-,:bt
at thAt ti;re i-- was difficult to find a blend
that could approach pari--y c-f
acceptance -it- existina blends. Since intrinsic
acceptance is A difficul:
problen,concepz testing, branding and total offer
testing bec:,mes e-.en
critical tnan us.;al. The richt presentation of
the product is
The experience =f U.K. research inz::: smoking and
health generall,... :an
provide some useful points in respect of its
actionability by marl-3:'inc:
1) Overall you should keep as close as possible to
ycur cr*---i.-.a-
quest i cnnai re in order to maintain a monitor of
trends. --':.
order t: achieve mnaximum advantage in terms of
marketing act -4c.-.abil -_ --t!,
analysis of tne questicnnaire should be taken down
to tne trar-4 leve-,
and the brands should be identified in terms of
imagery releva:%:: t~:
Smokina And Healtn (i.e. IsAst harmful, etc.~.
21, When investioatina the area cf quitting and
re-startir,
cf val--;-? to establ.Jsh ',a) tne regular orand
s-moked pr'.::r
and ~b. -_ne recular brand after starting to smoke
again. 7-e -2naly-slZ U4
C:)
BATCo document for Province of British Columbia I
November 1999


_f this would have to be taken in t,e ccntext of
reasons for quitting.
:: may --I! te tnat once can isolate brands
perceived as either value
f~r money or better fz.,r health through t.-Iis
method.
3) :.-) assessinq -he value and awareness of zar
levels, it ma-1 -.,;e'-,1 prove
valuable to establish the awareness of brand
ranking, and ,-ere the
respondents cwn recular brand ;.s positicned in
this. !__ sm-ckers are
c-~nsiderina switchina or do act-.;all,., swiz:-,
brands ther, tr.:ick the
.--ovement bet,;een brands.
4) Another area of investigation is invariacly the
various s::C-=s taken
in order zo quit smoking. These can be
ca::ecorisej as ; eat other
-nings as a s--cstitute, straignt quitting -~r
sitcning t~: a milder
:.garette. Acain on the last -point we s,7:uld
atte77pt to clarify the
=rands involvec.
5) ~-,ne of tne bicnest problems in the
actionanility of Smoking and Healtn
?search is 1 nking the passive aspects cf
awareness an c=:, ern to
:~:-.e active reactions in terms ol- brand
s,_--ching and quizt- -nq. At zhe
same time, in many countries, there -is a
complicating fact=r in that
=rice increases have also contributed to an
increa~:e in q-_:~_::ing and
switching. It may we!-' be, therefore, t"-.a--
thrcuq.'- the Smckinq and
.-.ealth Survey you could rank brands whicn fall
intc these :-.;c image
c3 tegories i.e. lower price, and less har:!if-jI.
Secondly, sho;.i---
Ze able to measure the passive and active
interactions by comparing
'.-.e trends in concern and awareness generated by
the researc:, .4th
actual sales trends in terms of segment s-.are
mcvements of r.-~le
2 :-.d high tar products.
It may we.1' be early days yet as far as most of
y,:u are concerned it's as
well to -_-e prf-pared for if ind -ah-n t~i~
-':imc come5. I have notic-CL
incrr-.-)si,-.7: con"rn for.instancv in N'i,,,eria
rcccr:r~.,.,, it See7Z -1~
a rather -_nz,ual dircc-_icn .,;e crzn~:;Z, -.1he
govcrr4.-,Pnt t"o-
should prevent or cure an. pos~~ible :,arm.
BATCo document for Province of BritiSh Columbia I
November 1999