DIARY: Rant

<p>I was fascinated to read in the last issue of media that tobacco </p><p>companies are "in talks to end all forms of mass market communications", </p><p>including sponsorship and point of sale activities. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Well, isn't that big of them? Let us be under no illusion that they're </p><p>doing this for ethical reasons -they're doing it to pre-empt a ban, and </p><p>show how efficient they are at self-regulation. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In reality, all that will happen is that their massive marketing spends </p><p>will move to other below-the-line activities. Because tobacco companies' </p><p>whole existences are about finding new and ever more devious ways to get </p><p>people to consume a highly dangerous, toxic product. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Smoking is one of the biggest preventable causes of death on earth: 60 </p><p>million people worldwide died from smoking-related diseases between 1950 </p><p>and 2000; four million a year die prematurely because they smoke - 10 </p><p>million a year by 2030; half of all smokers are killed by their habit - </p><p>it wipes an average of 16 years off their lives. Yet marketing this </p><p>product is still considered acceptable. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Which brings us onto the vexed subject of agency ethics. Any agency that </p><p>complains about restrictions on tobacco marketing is trying to inflate </p><p>its own profits at the expense of people's health. I'd go further than </p><p>that - I'd argue that's true of any agency that works for a tobacco </p><p>client. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It's easy for those of us that don't work on tobacco accounts to point </p><p>the finger at those who do, to be glib about ethics, and to say that no </p><p>agency should ever work for a client whose business they don't approve </p><p>of. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>That doesn't mean it shouldn't be said. The marketing industry is </p><p>consistently guilty of tortuously persuading itself that nothing it does </p><p>is really morally objectionable at all. Multinationals that exploit </p><p>workers, crush local competition and force poor-quality products on </p><p>consumers are OK because if they didn't do it, someone else would, and </p><p>if one agency didn't work for them, another would. But this is a product </p><p>that kills four million people a year, and we shouldn't touch them. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Whoever you are, and whatever you want to get off your chest, send your </p><p>rants to rant@media.com.hk, and we'll print them anonymously. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>