KEY AREA PAPER - PUBLIC AFFAIRS
SMOKING AND HEALTH - HEALTH WARNING CLAUSES
Background
The situation has existed for many years where
health warnings have
appeared on cigarette packets in some
circumstances and in others they
have not. Health warnings have been required by
governments in
developed nations for decades and, notwithstanding
the general public
awareness, it is the perception of the company
that there is a community
expectation, in developed nations anyway, that all
cigarette packets
should contain a warning of some kind. This issue
has been debated in
public many times, often being given more
importance than it deserves.
As a responsible manufacturer, BATCo believes it
should respond to those
expectations and apply a health warning to all
products it makes.
In many countries health warnings are also
included in avdertising either
as a result of legislation or industry agreement.
Policy
It is BATCo policy to comply with any national
requirement to place health
warnings on cigarette packaging and advertising.
In most cases warnings are required by government
and should therefore
contain an attribution to the government.
In cases where there is no requirement or
agreement, health warnings
snould be included or, packaging but not in
advertising. (guidelines for
implementation of warnings in these circumstances
are circulated
separately)
Pictorial warnings and those occupaying a major
pack face or faces (front
and back) or a disproportionately large area of
advertising space should be
resisted.
Objective
To neutralise the controversy over pack warning
lables: to minimise the
damage to the Group's most valuable assets, trade
marks, pack designs;
and to minimise the disruption to advertising
communications.
28 May 1992
O%db%KAPHWARN
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BATCO document for Province of British Columbia 23
April 1999