Dressed as health saviours, global tobacco firms back to advertising

A man exhales smoke from an electronic cigarette in Washington, DC.

Eva Hambach | Afp

By  Otiayo Guguyu

Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

• Then the bans on radio and television advertisements rained on the 1970s and outdoor advertisement party in the 1990’s and tobacco industry was all but shut out.
• Kenya also charges Sh8,837 on ‘other manufactured tobacco and manufactured substitutes’ per kilogramme.
• Restrictions are in terms of charging prohibitive taxes where Sh3,787 is slapped on e-cigarettes devices and Sh2,525 is charged on cartridges.
  

The genius of Marlboro man advertisement is rarely given credit, turning a feminine filtered cigarettes through the fingers of lean macho cowboy into the world’s leading cigarette brand.
Phillip Morris’s Marlboro men did not only boost brand presence, they drove sales from $5 billion when the campaign was launched in 1955 to $20 billion two years later.

Then the bans on radio and television advertisements rained on the 1970s and outdoor advertisement party in the 1990’s and tobacco industry was all but shut out.
To survive, the industry has lately turned inside, accepting the reality that cigarette smoking kills half of those who smoke and trying to keep its customers alive by offering safer products through heated tobacco.
After years of research and developing vapes (e-cigarettes), Swedish snus, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products, companies want to be allowed to advertise these alternatives, but authorities who fought for so long to clamp cigarettes down are not too eager to re-open advertising fearing maybe their history of success rather than judging products on offer.

Phillip Morris, which developed electronic IQOS device that generates a nicotine-containing aerosol by heating tobacco-filled sticks wrapped in paper, specifically Marlboro Heatsticks, Marlboro Smooth Menthol Heatsticks and Marlboro Fresh Menthol Heatsticks, has been chasing approvals to market these products since 2014.

Modified risk products

It is only in July this year that the company was allowed by the US Food and Drug Administration to market these as modified risk products.

That was two years after FDA approved marketing of the products without mentioning they had less risks than cigarettes.
“Data submitted by the company shows that marketing these particular products with the authorised information could help addicted adult smokers transition away from combusted cigarettes and reduce their exposure to harmful chemicals, but only if they completely switch,” said Mitch Zeller, JD, director of the FDA’s Centre for Tobacco Products.
The company will now be allowed to advertise IQOS system as unique because it heats tobacco but does not burn it, significantly reducing the production of harmful and potentially lethal chemicals.
Scientific studies have shown that switching completely from conventional cigarettes to the IQOS system significantly reduces one’s exposure to harmful or potentially harmful chemicals.
But even then, they cannot claim the products are safe or FDA approved and are required to do post market survey to measure impact of the messaging and ensure that these advertisements do not lure young people.

Cigarette alternatives

Whether this approval will affect Kenya’s authorities to change views on cigarette alternatives will be of keen interest since the country has been quick to adopt global standards but has at times been slow in implementation.

For instance since it ratified WHO Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (ITP) in May, the country is yet to put in enforcement to lock out illegal products trade across Uganda that continue to deny the government in excess of Sh2.5 billion every year.

“Whilst Kenya’s ratification of the ITP is an important step, it needs to be supported by a holistic enforcement framework. Therefore, as we urge the Kenyan authorities to enhance cooperation with their Ugandan counterparts to stem the flow of these products into Kenya through identification of product sources and their supply routes, we also call for stringent punitive measures. These include payment of prohibitive fines by owners of seized products and prosecution of anyone caught engaging illicit trade,” said William Elliott, head of legal & external affairs, BAT East Africa.
In Kenya, the law prohibits virtually all forms of advertising and promotion of tobacco products. However, there are no restrictions on the use; advertising, promotion and sponsorship; or packaging and labelling of e-cigarettes.
Restrictions are in terms of charging prohibitive taxes where Sh3,787 is slapped on e-cigarettes devices and Sh2,525 is charged on cartridges.

Kenya also charges Sh8,837 on ‘other manufactured tobacco and manufactured substitutes’ per kilogramme.
dguguyu@ke.nationmedia.com