As means of advertising have been systematically closed to the tobacco industry, it has adapted by finding new conduits for its messages. The following summary outlines the alternative ways of promoting tobacco products employed in Australia following various restrictions. These forms of advertising have now been legislated against in the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992. However the tobacco industry is internationally renowned for its ability to discover and exploit legislative loopholes and the true test of the effectiveness of the legislation will be what, if any, unexpected tobacco advertising appears following the provisions of the Act taking full effect.
The impending introduction of the federal print ban in 1989 brought about industry experimentation with direct mail.(37,103,104,105,106) Direct mail remained allowable in at least some states, provided that the customers targeted had specified that they wished to receive promotional material.(105) This was generally indicated by entering a competition, or sending away for mail-order items; for example the return coupon for ordering Philip Morris' Nineteen Ninety-Two Ideas Diary asked for the customer to sign a certification that they were 18 years or over, and ticking a box gave the option of being sent other promotional material.(107) The St Moritz Fashion Collection operated along similar lines.(108) A national competition promoted by the importers of Drum loose tobacco in the months prior to the introduction of the print media advertising ban merely required entrants to write their names and addresses on the appropriate coupon, the intention being to compile a direct mail list of purchasers and potential purchasers.(109)
Direct mailing by tobacco companies is well established in the United States, where it has been used to foster loyalty and a sense of solidarity among their customers. It is clear that the companies have tried to connect their client base with their lobbying base; according to RJ Reynolds' corporate mission statement, 'We work for smokers'(75)(see also Chapter 14, Section 19).
RJR has sent its customers Christmas cards, made available a 'smokers' rights' kit, and sponsored initial meetings for smokers interested in forming their own smokers' rights groups. Additionally, RJR has produced a magazine for customers which discusses industry issues and encourages readers to take action in their community and with government.(75) Philip Morris in the US began publishing its own glossy monthly magazine in the mid-1980s,(110) but has since discontinued this particular promotion, presumably because it was not cost effective. 'Waves', a magazine launched by Philip Morris for Australia's Alpine smokers during 1992, continues to be produced and is available through direct mail. Although the name and the shade of green used in the title graphics recalls the colour of the Alpine pack, no reference is made to smoking other than in a covering letter, which states at the foot that 'Waves' is a promotion of Philip Morris Limited.(111)
Parallel promotions occur when tobacco companies attach their brand names or company names to non-tobacco products. This generates increased exposure for the names, and also enables unrestricted advertising opportunities.
There have been many examples of parallel promotions in Australia, including the line of pens, lighters, aftershave and other luxury items marketed under the Dunhill name, Yves St Laurent perfumes and cigarettes, the Freeport fashions and accessories associated with the brand's launch,(112) the Alpine diary and the St Moritz mail-order fashion catalogues.
Philip Morris has been the most active of Australian tobacco companies in exploring the possibilities of promotional offers. In early 1990 the company packaged a bottle of Peter Jackson sunscreen with two packs of Peter Jackson cigarettes as a 'summer time promotion'. Philip Morris' audacious venture into cancer prevention was met with derision and Peter Jackson sunscreen was withdrawn soon after.(113) The following year Philip Morris packaged two packs of Longbeach 40s with a lifestyle 'video magazine' called 'Life on the Beach' which featured outdoor adventure activities.
During 1992 Philip Morris released presentation sets of two packs of Peter Jackson or Alpine, combined with special offers of key rings, brass cigarette lighters and music cassettes containing popular Australian rock music. In Perth, a shop manager was fined in the Magistrate's Court for stocking the combined Peter Jackson and music cassette packs, on the grounds that the promotion breached the Western Australian Tobacco Control Act by offering an enticement to buy cigarettes. Under the terms of the legislation it was not possible to prosecute the manufacturer or the wholesaler.(114)
As legislation in several states and territories began to restrict opportunities for parallel promotions and special offers to occur, the Alpine diary was reincarnated in 1992 as the 'Nineteen Ninety-Two Ideas' diary and published by a special subsidiary owned by Philip Morris.(107) The diary was still available in 1995. The cover of the diary features the familiar green and white (green and other colours in 1995) of the Alpine pack, but as consumer recall of the old Alpine advertising campaigns can be expected to fade, so, according to a Philip Morris executive, are the diary's days likely to be numbered.(99)
In conjunction with its promotional magazine 'Waves' (see preceding Section), Philip Morris continues to make available special offers. One example is a picture frame, featuring a pattern which incorporates the 'Waves' logo (which is not obviously connected to any tobacco pack design feature). The application form for the frame asks what brand (if any) is normally smoked, age group, whether information on further offers is requested, and requires a signature certifying that the applicant is 18 years of age or over. Although the form clearly states that Philip Morris is the promoter, no reference to any tobacco brand is made.(115)
Under the provisions of the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992, these forms of promotion may no longer occur unless the marketed items were available prior to 1 April 1992. A specified range of Dunhill and Cartier products have received exemption and will continue to be available (see Section 15.1 above). Presumably Philip Morris' magazine, diary, and associated special offers are now so tenuously linked with any definable form of tobacco promotion that they defy prosecution.
Private individuals may continue to make use of items bearing tobacco brand names or logos provided they are acting on their own initiative, and are not doing so as part of an involvement in the manufacture, sale or distribution of a tobacco product.
Piggy-back advertising occurs when tobacco advertising appears, apparently incidentally, in another product's advertisements. An Australian example of this kind of advertising is an advertisement for Tag-Heuer watches, which featured Formula One driver Ayrton Senna wearing his racing gear, upon which was displayed a Marlboro brand logo. A complaint to the Advertising Standards Council that the prominence of the Marlboro logo made the watch advertisement tantamount to a tobacco advertisement, thereby contravening the national ban on tobacco advertising on the print media, was not upheld. The Advertising Standards Council took the view that Senna was wearing his usual racing attire and that the logo was partly obscured and incidental to the central purpose of the advertisement. However Tag-Heuer has since stated that it would voluntarily remove the advertisement.(116)
Under the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992, a message or image which primarily promotes a non-tobacco product but which also, explicitly or implicitly, promotes a tobacco product, is deemed to be a tobacco advertisement and is therefore prohibited.(3)