New Zealand: Big Spend-up to Fight Plain Packs

Source from:  Stuff.co.nz 06/09/2013

Cigarette giant British American Tobacco has spent $4 million fighting plans to sell smokes in plain packs in New Zealand.

The figure was revealed in documents released to the Sunday Star-Times, and the size of the war chest has been condemned by Action on Smoking and Health New Zealand (Ash).

"This shows how aggressively they're trying to fight this, because clearly it is going to harm their business because people will be buying fewer cigarettes," Ash director Ben Youdan said.

Last February Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia announced the Government was pressing ahead with plain pack legislation. She said New Zealand would become the second country to do it after Australia - though since then Ireland has jumped into the spot. Other countries, including the European Union, are also planning to follow suit.

BAT last week admitted spending $11.4m in largely equal shares in Australia, New Zealand and the European Union in its battle against plain packs.

In New Zealand it bought extensive newspaper and television advertising, claiming plain packs would violate its intellectual property.

It created a website, AgreeDisagree. co.nz, under a banner "we agree that tobacco is harmful, we disagree that plain packaging will work".

BAT's London-based group head of corporate affairs Simon Millson admitted the expenditure in a letter to Britain's Action on Smoking and Health.

BAT's New Zealand corporate and regulatory affairs manager Janice Thein confirmed the $3.9m was spent in New Zealand in 2011-12, saying it covered "wider general business costs and the media [advertising] placement". Millson also disclosed that BAT "has supported retailers" and spent $48,869 on a "retailers pack" sent to shops.

Youdan was surprised at the size of the spending, claiming BAT had downplayed the extent of its campaign here.

"They claimed it was hundreds of thousands of dollars when in reality it is knocking on for $4m.

"This shows that these companies are quite contemptuous toward public health and policy makers."

The London admission about BAT's advertising spend contrasts that of New Zealand boss Steve Rush who told media in Auckland last August their campaign expense was "relatively small". Enditem