Australia Becomes Latest Battleground For Big Tobacco Vs. Regulators

BBC, Tuesday, July 5, 2011 10:16 AM
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Australia, which has some of the most stringent smoking regulations in the world, is proposing banning corporate logos from tobacco packaging, demanding that all brand names be printed in a single font and that packets come in olive green -- a color smokers loathe. Currently, tobacco packaging there has pictures of cancer tumours and gangrenous limbs, and pack are hidden in cabinets out of sight. But the new packaging regulations would give Australia the toughest regulations in the world.

Tobacco companies see a domino effect from Australia's moves to lucrative markets like Britain, Canada and New Zealand, which are considering similar laws. They also see implications in emerging markets. In response, tobacco companies have launched a marketing campaign featuring a fierce-looking, prison guard-type woman from the cult Australian television show "Prisoner Cell-Block H," who barks orders at a smoker and keeps on demanding more money. "I make the rules around here!" she shouts, "So I'm going to tell you where you can and cannot smoke." "I'm over 18. It's legal," replies the smoker.

Philip Morris, which owns Marlboro and others, also has threatened to sue the Australian government for billions, potentially. The company says Australia's government is devaluing its intellectual property, in breach of an international investment treaty signed between Canberra and Hong Kong, where Philip Morris is based.

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