Despite Ban, Cigarette Logos Flourish Overseas September 21, 2000
News Summary
Even though most forms of tobacco advertising are banned in Malaysia, cigarette logos are still visible as tobacco companies let other businesses use their brand names, USA Today reported Sept. 12.In 1993, Malaysia banned tobacco advertising, including print, television, radio and billboards. But tobacco companies have found a way to get their logo in the public's eye without violating the ban.
For instance, billboards with the Salem, Benson & Hedges and Winston names appear throughout Malaysia. But instead of advertising cigarettes, the billboards advertise the companies' travel, clothing and restaurant businesses.
On television, Perilly's, a cigarette brand owned by British American Tobacco (BAT), is a movie sponsor, while Camel has 15 clothing stores.
"The companies have found loopholes in the law, and we have not plugged them," said H.J. Sallehudin, an assistant director of Malaysia's Department of Public Health, which enforces Malaysia's tobacco ad bans. The agency recently urged the government to tighten advertising restrictions.
"The indirect advertising has gotten more and more sleek" in Malaysia, said Mary Assunta, an anti-tobacco activist with the Consumers Association of Penang.
Tobacco companies counter that licensing their names to non-tobacco products is good business and is not being done to encourage smoking. "We are not gaining market share because there are Salem Cool Planet record stores," said Axel Gietz, spokesman for Japan Tobacco International, which owns the international operations of Camel, Salem and Winston cigarettes. "It is a good way of capitalizing on the image of the brand. This is perfectly legal."
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