[07/01] SLEAZY INDUSTRY CAMPAIGN BACKFIRES IN EUROPE

In an effort to slow down the spread of restrictions on smoking in public places and other antismoking legislation, Philip Morris very recently began a new ad campaign.

It claimed that the dangers of inhaling secondhand tobacco smoke were small compared with eating cookies, using pepper, or drinking milk or fluoridated water.

But the campaign by Philip Morris has backfired, drawing a barrage of lawsuits, complaints to regulators and government criticism from Athens to Amsterdam.

Now, only four weeks into the campaign:

  • Acting on a complaint from the French National Biscuit Syndicate, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance last week banned the campaign on the grounds that it is disguised tobacco advertising.

  • The French judge, Jean-Pierre Marcus, added that the ads damaged the interests of the cookie industry, "as cookies, the malignancy of which cannot be held as obvious, . . . are described as more noxious than the effects of tobacco, which by law is considered a scourge of society."

  • Herve Gaymard, France's secretary of state for health and social security, has asked the country's top prosecutor to investigate whether Philip Morris is breaking French law, which bans most forms of tobacco advertising.

  • Facing a similar legal challenge from the cookie industry in Belgium, Philip Morris agreed in court last week to stop the campaign.

  • In the Netherlands, Philip Morris last week told the government that it would stop the campaign following strong criticism from the food industry, antismoking groups and government health officials.

  • Even an affiliate of Philip Morris's London ad agency has assailed the campaign. When it saw the first Philip Morris ads earlier this month, the Paris-based ad agency BDDP Conseil faxed a letter to the French National Committee Against Tobacco Addiction, saying it would gladly join the committee in suing Philip Morris. "We believe it's essential to bring a halt to this scandalous campaign and get the authors convicted," BDDP Conceil wrote in the letter

  • The scientific evidence used by Philip Morris also has come under attack. The cookie data quoted in the ad and published in the British medical journal the Lancet in 1993, weren't about cookies per se, critics say. The Lancet article focused on cardiac risks related to partly hydrogenated vegetable oils used in many foods, including cookies.

    One effect of this backfire might be a greater willingness of European countries to pass law restricting smoking in public places, and companies to restrict smoking on their own, all as a result of the increased public interest in this issue.

    However, the ramifications may be even broader. For example:

  • The Belgian Parliament, for example, is scheduled soon to approve a ban on tobacco advertising in all media.

  • The European Commission in Brussels, meanwhile, is pushing for an EU-wide ban on all tobacco advertising -- television ads for the product have been illegal since 1989 -- and a ban on smoking in public places.

    Reportedly the fiasco has already become the butt of jokes among EU lobbyists.

    "Do you mind if I smoke?" one PR man asked another at a recent Brussels lunch.

    "Not at all," came the reply, "now that I know it won't do me as much damage as a glass of water."

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