[Intl-tobacco] Japan Tobacco to Launch New Global Camel Campaign

[Robert Weissman]

April 2, 2002
Global Camel Campaign Kicks Off As Tobacco-Control Efforts Gain
Alessandra Galloni
The Wall Street Journal

JAPAN TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL is launching a new marketing campaign for the
Camel brand just as efforts to impose restrictions on tobacco advertising
around the world are gathering steam.
Japan Tobacco, which owns the 89-year-old Camel brand outside the U.S., says
the campaign kicking off in April in about 100 countries is aimed at
boosting loyalty among existing Camel smokers and taking market share from
one of its biggest rivals, Philip Morris's Marlboro.

The campaign, which doesn't involve the U.S. market, includes the
rollout of
a new range of Camels, including filter, mild/medium, light and super-light
versions. The company says it has enhanced the blends of all these products
after upgrading the manufacturing process in factories around the world. It
has refined the packaging as well, while keeping the trademark camel stamp.
Advertising will vary across countries according to local restrictions,
reflecting the company's determination to effectively relaunch the brand.

Japan Tobacco International says it will comply with any new regulations on
the market. "Tobacco is a controversial product and there are very
well-known risks," says Adam Bryan, vice president of international
corporate affairs for Japan Tobacco International, a unit of Japan Tobacco.
"Adults should have the right to choose."

The first print ad shows a hunky-looking, wavy-haired young man in blue
jeans leaning against an oversize Camel pack, with the tagline, "Slow down,
pleasure up." The ads, created by McCann-Erickson, a unit of Interpublic
Group, will appear in magazines and newspapers, as well as in posters.

Representatives of about 190 nations met in Geneva last week for a fourth
round of discussions toward a global treaty on tobacco control. The World
Health Organization, which launched the talks two years ago, hopes the
so-called Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will be ready by 2003.

The WHO argues that a global treaty is essential because smoking and
tobacco-related diseases kill four million people a year world-wide. The WHO
wants the treaty to include bans on advertising and sponsorships,
antismuggling measures, product regulation and better education.
African countries are leading the way in pressing for tight restrictions,
banning marketing and sponsorship, as well as imposing tight labeling
regulations. Some Asian and Latin American countries are in agreement. But
others, such as Japan, want fewer limits placed on tobacco. As a result, the
current treaty text is packed with alternatives, options and suboptions.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department announced last week that it wants to
impose broad restrictions on cigarette makers as part of its lawsuit against
the industry. The government wants all cigarette advertising to be
restricted to black-and-white, print-only formats with half of the space in
any ad reserved for "graphic health warnings." It also will seek to end
trade promotions and giveaways, and to ban all vending-machine sales.

The demands go well beyond restrictions to which the industry agreed in a
$206 billion legal settlement signed in November 1998 with 46 states, and
the tobacco industry is fighting them aggressively. Defendant R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco, which owns the Camel brand in the U.S., said the state settlement
"comprehensively addresses the issue of underage smoking" and says that it
will fight any further restrictions in court.

The WHO argues that tobacco companies haven't addressed the issue of young
people smoking at all because ads still make smoking look glamorous or part
of a balanced life.
"The most important market for cigarette makers is teens and 18- to
24-year-olds and a lot of their marketing is geared to make sure the
quitting rate goes down," says Derek Yach, executive director of
noncommunicable diseases and mental health at the WHO. "The new Camel
campaign has a new message but it still appeals to young people."