British American Tobacco: Advertising

The British American Tobacco Company is the second largest international tobacco company, behind Phillip Morris (owned by the Altria Group), so advertising is key to its success. The British American Tobacco Company, otherwise known as BAT, is recognized worldwide through its cigarette brands, which include Benson and Hedges, Dunhill, Pall Mall, John Player and Lucky Strike. ^[1] BAT has sold hundreds of millions of cigarettes worldwide, and this has to be attributed in part to its widespread and extensive advertising campaigns.

Case Studies

In Britain, the advertising of cigarettes was banned from television in 1965 due to increasing awareness that it encouraged people to smoke and to disregard the health problems related to smoking. Commercials for loose tobacco and cigars continued until 1991. In 1971, an agreement between the government and the tobacco industry brought about the introduction of health warnings on all cigarette packets. ^[2] In many countries throughout the world, restrictions have been imposed on the advertising of tobacco products which has resulted in BAT struggling to maintain awareness of their products. ^[3]

Corporations such as BAT have been described as "outrageous" in their promotion of tobacco products. In Vietnam for example, cafes and bars are supplied with tables, chairs and umbrellas, ashtrays and cigarette lighters all displaying the logo of BAT's 555 brand. The company also supplies stickers which are attached to "tobacco trolleys", displaying the words "No selling to teenagers." Although this is attempting to show BAT in a positive light, this strategy has been found to be ineffective as young children in the country can still buy tobacco products from these vendors. ^[4]

South Africa is a country that has been seen to be at the forefront of the cigarette advertisement ban. In 1993, the first legislation with regard to tobacco law was passed in the country. This was known as the Tobacco Control Act, and it resulted in cigarette packaging and other forms of tobacco advertising being required to display health warnings. Smoking in public places was controlled and the prohibition of selling tobacco products to those under sixteen years old was introduced.

Following this Act, the South African government introduced the Tobacco Control Amendment Act in 1999, and when it came into effect in October 2000, a "new era of public health" was well received by the population. Although tobacco advertising was no longer permitted on television when these Acts came into effect, companies such as BAT had to find alternative methods in reaching the public. They did this through the use of the radio, but after a while free air time was allocated to put out warnings about the danger of tobacco to people's health. This consequently led to the public calling for tougher regulations on the issue and the law was revised in response to public pressure, resulting in a complete ban of tobacco advertising.

This advertising ban meant that the British American Tobacco company could no longer reach the South African public through these popular mediums, and as a result they had to raise awareness of their products in another way. Cleverly, they devised the idea of a competition with a cash prize or a trip on the "first commercial spaceship, redeemable within the next two years" after the competition. Those who entered the competition had to give their names, which were entered into BAT's database, and used in the future for promotional purposes. ^[5]

Political Funding

Advertising costs are high, so for companies such as BAT it is vital that advertising campaigns are as effective as possible. The British American Tobacco Company, like many other international corporations, relies heavily on support from governments. A deputy chairman of BAT, responsible for the company's policy on corporate social responsibility is Ken Clarke, formerly the Health Secretary for the UK Conservative government ^[6] and it is with the aid of the government that the tobacco industry continues to thrive. Since the health dangers of tobacco are widely recognised, the government could put a complete ban on the products but as they reap massive financial benefits from the sale of tobacco this is highly unlikely to happen. In Britain, it was not until 1991 that a complete tobacco advertisement ban was issued with regard to television, but non-television advertising were continually allowed until 1997. The Labour Government then promised to introduce a complete ban of the promotion of the products. The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 was the result of this promise. ^[7] Exceptions allowed under this Act are those advertisements that are not aimed at specific kinds of people within the British population, as well as advertisements within shops, pubs or clubs that promote the products on an area no larger than A5-sized and that include government and health warnings on at least thirty percent of the ad. ^[8]

Before the 2002 Act was passed, it was claimed that in order to get around the advertising ban on television, and later on radio, the British American Tobacco Company engaged in direct marketing tactics. This meant that products such as cigarettes were handed out to individuals in order to raise awareness of their particular brands, and this is still found to occur in British society today. BAT have often been criticised for not only underplaying the health dangers linked to their products, but also for targeting specific areas of the population, especially young people. BAT dispute this idea, and argue that their aim is not to do this but rather their company is about "offering quality brands to adults who have already taken the decision to smoke." ^[9]

In order to gain support from governments in the sale and advertising of tobacco products, the British American Tobacco Company have helped fund political campaigns. In 2004, almost $3m was spent by tobacco companies on candidates in the US elections, over $2m of which went to Rebublican candidates. ^[10] George Bush was the largest individual recipient, receiving $170,145, in comparison to $21,050 received by his opponent John Kerry. ^[11] The idea behind this funding of political campaigns is that when someone is elected, they will perhaps mention where they received money, which would in turn lead to a degree of recognition from the public, but also, there is the belief amongst tobacco companies, including BAT, that as they have aided political figures gain power, they will help them in return by supporting their products. Abrie du Plessis, a spokesperson for BAT, explains why the company funds various aspects within politics and in doing so, raises awareness of their products. He claims, “We want to have a constructive relationship with government. It’s almost as if the culture of smoking is being blamed on corporations, as if smoking is a phenomenon created by multinationals and perpetuated by advertising. We don’t believe this, because before multinationals, people smoked” [[12]].

Sponsorship

Sponsorship of sport is yet another way in which the British American Tobacco Company avoids the restrictions on advertising, and is connected largely to the sponsorship of Formula 1 Racing [[13]]. When BAT initially became involved in Formula 1 in 1970, they sponsored Yardley, who were with the BRM team, but as time progressed, they became involved with other teams and this continued until 1974, when they no longer involved themselves in the sponsorship of the sport [[14]]. After a period of time away from Formula 1, BAT returned to it in 1983 in order to continue with the promotion of their company and its products. BAT’s sponsorship of this masculine orientated sport is a means of targeting young men and boys and raising their awareness of the tobacco industry, and in doing this, it reaches them in an effective manner [[15]]. Through the extent of the media coverage Formula 1 receives, the British American Tobacco Company has become recognizable on a global scale, and also as a result of their sponsorship, the company was able to reach all age groups in society through their merchandising of a range of Formula 1 related products, which bore the BAT logo.

Another popular sport which BAT has been connected to through sponsorship is football. In the 2002 World Cup, FIFA laid down firm restrictions on the promotion of tobacco products, but BAT did not abide to these restrictions and consequently, the World Cup was used to market their Dunhill brand of cigarettes. BAT avoided prosecution in this way as they argued that their involvement in the 2002 World Cup was simply a sponsorship, and therefore they were not advertising their products directly on the national television coverage in Malaysia [[16]]. As well as sponsoring the major football event at that time, the British American Tobacco Company also unveiled “an ultimate football website”, in which they encouraged people once again, to enter a competition through submitting their personal details. The prize for the competition was a trip to Yokohama, Japan; one of the venues hosting one of the football matches in the World Cup [[17]] and as this was a much sought after prize, BAT therefore gained many new people onto their database.

It is not only major worldwide sporting events that BAT sponsors. Up until 2000, the British American Tobacco Company was the main sponsor of the Kenya Football Federation Premier League. In doing this, football clubs were supplied with footballs, strips and boots which displayed BAT’s logo and as well as this, clubs within the league revieved large amounts of money from the company [[18]].

As well as sporting events, BAT’s sponsorship extends to other forms of popular culture. In Bangladesh, BAT has previously sponsored music events in order to promote their Benson and Hedges brand of cigarettes. In doing this, BAT have claimed they have the publics best interest at heart, by donating funds raised by the events to organisations like the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society. However, in reality, children under the age of 18 years old can access these concerts and therefore are subjected to the promotion of products within the venue [[19]].

Campaigns

As a result of the continuing regulations and restrictions imposed upon the tobacco industry, BAT, along with two other leading international tobacco companies, Phillip Morris and JT International, joined forces in 2001 in order to tackle what they regarded as a constraint. They worked alongside the International Marketing Standards and together, aimed to meet these standards set and “build on existing principles” [[20]]. As previously mentioned, these companies are frequently criticised for targeting specific groups, especially young people, through advertising and other forms of marketing they engage in, but the British American Tobacco Company opposes this idea and argues that through working with the International Marketing Standards, they are trying to combat this belief [[21]].

In writing a report about youth smoking prevention, Debra Efroymson claims that BAT, along with Phillip Morris and Japan Tobacco International promote this in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Efroymson believes that these international corporations have become increasingly involved in youth smoking prevention campaigns as they believe that it will stop the government completely banning the promotion of tobacco produce, but BAT claims that it is not advertising that promotes the smoking culture amongst society’s youth, rather it is peer pressure. Through writing her report, Efroymson disputes this idea, and argues that BAT’s Youth Smoking Prevention Campaigns are a front and advertising does indeed lead to youth smoking as she found that in America, as many as 68% of youth smokers choose to buy the three most advertised cigarette brands compared to only a third of adult smokers [[22]].

In light of health groups laying blame for a number of illnesses and diseases on the tobacco industry, BAT has tried to overcome many of the negative beliefs associated with them. In doing so, BAT’s official website demonstrates how they have been actively involved in campaigns in Europe and other areas such as Japan, which promote the idea that young people should not smoke [[23]]. In conjunction with Phillip Morris and JT International, BAT has spent $3.6 million on trying to overcome the belief that they target their products at young people. A large proportion of this money spent by the three international corporations was on an advertising campaign showing on MTV in thirty eight European countries between April and July 2001 [[24]]. These ideas aimed to perpetuate the idea that in order to be ‘cool’ and popular amongst their peer group, it was not necessary for teenagers to smoke. Campaigns like the one transmitted on MTV, portray the idea that the British American Tobacco Company is a socially responsible company, but in reality, the company uses this idea of corporate social responsibility as a front, and through this, they conceal many of the known dangers from the public by claiming their products are “credible” and that dangers although exist, are in BAT’s view, over-exaggerated [[25]].