DRAFT
BACKGROUND BRIEFING PAPER D
International tobacco companies use in developing
countries
advert i sinK_methods not considered acc2ptable in
the Western
World
RESPOINSE
On the issue of advertising, as on other issues,
it must be up
to developing country governments, which have of
course
sovereign rights over their own policies, to
decide to what
extent they will follow opinions and practices 'in
the Western
World. in this context a Minister in the U.K.
House of Commons
stated recently: "Developing countries must set
their own
standards. It is not for us to set standards for
them."
The promotion by international companies of their
products in
developing countries reflects, as elswhere, local
practice and
government policy. They conform strictly to the
laws of the
developing countries in which they operate, and
comply with
advertising codes of practice where they exist. In
some
countries they have encouraged the adoption of
tobacco
advertisin- codes, in order to respond to local
circumstances
which favoured such measures and which have varied
from country GO
--j
to country in relation to local customs and
practices. I'D
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BATCo industries for Province of British Columbia
27 October 1999


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In the %Vesterr World the opponents of cigarette
advertising
make the assumption that such advertising
increases total
cigarette consumption and entices non-smokers to
become
smokers. For these reasons they have advocated
advertising
bans or restrictions on media and advertising
content. As
there is no proof for either assumption, it would
seem
irrelevant for them to relate such assumptions to
advertising
methods in developing countries.
There is statistical and empirical evidence from
many countries
in the world that advertising has in fact no
effect on total
cigarette consumption. A study of the United
Kingdom cigarette
market over the years 1962 to 1969 carried out by
the Metra
Consulting Group and broadly accepted by the U.K.
Department of
Health and Social Security concluded "No evidence
has been
found of a significant association between the
total level of
media advertising and total cigarette sales.-
As regards empirical evidence, tobacco consumption
is growing
faster in the Communist Eastern Bloc, where there
is no
cigarette advertising at all, than in the "Free
World" where
there is advertising. Excluding the U.S.S.R.,
where supply
problems have almost certainly depressed
consumption, the
increase in cigarette consumption between 1970 and
1980 was
43%. Cigarette consumption in the "Free World"
over the same
period increased by 35%.
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BATCo industries for Province of British Columbia
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Turning to developing countries, there is
significant evidence
to the same effect from Thailand, Taiwan and
Singapore. In
Thailand, where all advertising was banned in
1969, cigarette
consumption during the 1970's grew at over twice
the average
growth rate for the whole "Free World". In Taiwan,
where all
advertising ~&s been banned for many years, the
cigarette
volume increase recorded in the 1976-1980 period
was some 12%
greater than in the 5 years 1970-1975. In
Singapore there has
been no cigarette advertising since 1970, but
total consumption
has grown at a faster rate since the ban, than in
the five
years preceding it. This increase cannot be
explained by a
faster population growth, because this has been
slower in the
post 1970 period.
On the question of advertising enticing
non-smokers to smoke,
studies carried out in 196718 and 1973 by the
National Health
and Medical Research Council in Australia
concluded:-
"Nor has anything been found to suggest that
advertising
entices non-smokers, young people in particular,
into becoming
smokers. It follows, therefore, that there can be
no evidence,
showing that a ban on advertising would result in
reduced
tobacco consumption and fewer non-smokers."
September, 1982
CD
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BATCo industries for Province of British Columbia
27 October 1999