According to Arnold Liong, MD of DraftFCB Philippines, the creative agency was appointed to handle the cigarette maker’s advertising last month and Hope wanted to refresh its advertising following a revamp of the product’s flavour and packaging.
The campaign focuses on a group of Filipinos in various leisure pursuits. The cigarette brand’s new ‘Live relaxed’ slogan accentuates the down-tempo tone of the campaign and tries to downplay the product itself.
Following a clampdown on billboard advertising for tobacco products introduced in July last year, the Interpublic agency has been forced to think of ways to work around the tobacco ad ban.
The Tobacco Control Act was first passed by the local authorities in 2003 to prohibit the publication and distribution of leaflets, posters or outdoor materials except within the premises of tobacco retail outlets.
Tobacco firms and lobbyists then began questioning the ruling and how the law interprets retail outlets’ limits for putting up their ads, saying that the word ‘premises’ was a grey area.
In February, a judge overruled the blanket outdoor ban by allowing tobacco firms to put up billboards, as long as the ads were within the bounds of point-of-sale activity following a petition by Fortune Tobacco and other major cigarette manufacturers including Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco, La Suerte and Mighty Corp.
In April, a tobacco control group, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance of the Philippines, hit out at the 7-Eleven convenience stores chain and Fortune Tobacco, alleging that the firms overstepped the boundaries on outdoor advertising.
An executive at the control group has threatened legal action after public complaints on a new type of movable banners found around the convenience stores to promote Hope cigarettes and its ‘Live relaxed’ slogan.
The Philippine Government makes 27 billion pesos (US$600 million) from tobacco and its taxes and related products annually while nationwide tobacco consumption continues to grow at four per cent each year.
