Partial ad bans do not work
by Ulysses Dorotheo, March 15, 2002

Philip Morris has stopped advertising its cigarettes on Philippine TV and radio. In order to pre-empt pending advertising restrictions, Philip Morris now appears to support a partial advertising ban. Good news for tobacco control advocates? Not really.

Philip Morris claims that in so doing, it is complying ahead of schedule with the International Marketing Standards that it launched last September together with British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco. It is trying to show that self-regulation works.

But has the number of Philip Morris ads actually decreased?

In the past 3 months, numerous huge billboards of PM’s “Got Taste?” ad series and the ubiquitous Marlboro Man have been sprouting like mushrooms all over the Philippine landscape. Aside from these billboards along various major thoroughfares, full-page, full-colour ads have also been appearing regularly in all the major dailies.

By ceasing to spend millions of pesos on relatively brief but expensive TV and radio spots, Philip Morris has actually saved this obscene amount and shifted it into more permanent print ads. Instead of actually decreasing tobacco advertising, the exact opposite has happened. Besides, most tobacco TV ads never belonged to Philip Morris in the first place, but rather to the local tobacco industry.

In the face of pending legislation calling for a tobacco ad ban, Philip Morris is willing to support such “sensible regulation” by the government, but states that this should be applied to all the industry players.

Philip Morris has been largely unsuccessful in gaining a larger share of the Philippine market, which is dominated by the local industry, so it now wants the government to level the field of competition for it. For a company planning to change its name to “Altria” , this maneuvering is far from altruistic. The self-regulatory code states that “marketing activities should not appeal to youth or suggest that smoking enhances sporting, social, sexual or professional success.” Just look at their ads; you be the judge of Philip Morris’ compliance.

This article was published on March 19, 2002 in the FCA Bulletin Issue 19, circulated during INB4.