[Intl-tobacco] South Africa: Dunhill cigarette brochure withdrawn

[robert weissman]

Dunhill cigarette brochure withdrawn

http://business.iafrica.com/news/892946.htm
Tue, 14 Mar 2006

Cigarette manufacturer British American Tobacco SA (Batsa) has withdrawn
a Dunhill brochure after a complaint that it contravened the Tobacco
Products Control Act's ban on advertising.

In a ruling released on Tuesday, the Advertising Standards Authority
(ASA) said the complaint was lodged by anti-smoking campaigner Ken
Sheppard.

Sheppard told the ASA that he picked up the brochure at a Wimpy Bar
outside Mossel Bay in December last year.

He said although the brochure purported to be an information leaflet, it
was "nothing more than a Dunhill cigarette advertisement", promoting
"new-look" Dunhill King Size 20s.

The ASA said that in response to the complaint, Batsa "submitted that
the advertisement in question would be withdrawn with immediate effect".

"The ASA has a long standing principal which holds that where an
advertiser provides an unequivocal undertaking to withdraw or amend its
advertising in a manner that addresses the concerns raised, that
undertaking is accepted without considering the merits of the matter...

"The undertaking is accepted on condition that the advertisement is not
used again in the future."

Sheppard said he was pleased with the ruling.

"I've been kicking some butt, and it feels good," he said. "It's a good
feeling to know they have maybe a couple hundred thousand of them [the
brochures] that have to go into the shredder."

He said the tobacco industry had a global record of operating outside
the law.

No comment was immediately available from Batsa.

/Sapa/