With advertising averaging R166-million, the local tobacco industry has refused to voluntarily withdraw its ad campaigns, reports Gillian Farquhar
THIS week the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa denied that the countries’ tobacco companies would voluntarily withdraw their advertising next year.
It was speculated in advertising and marketing circles that this move, recently attempted by American tobacco companies, would pre-empt government legislation enforcing a total ban on cigarette advertising.
In the United States, the proposed voluntary withdrawal of advertising to curtail the under-age use of tobacco products was rejected by Congress, which argued that the proposal by US tobacco companies fell short of its demands.
Although it was not planning to voluntarily withdraw tobacco advertising, the local tobacco institute said it would view a government ban as “against the spirit of freemarket economy”.
It argued that a ban on tobacco advertising would also be in “violation” of freedom of expression.
Director of the Association of Marketeers Derrick Dickins said a discussion document on banning tobacco advertising had been circulated to “selected parties”, but neither his association nor the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) had seen it.
Dickins said the Association of Marketeers and Sacob were “in principle, totally opposed to any legislation that interfered with free-market processes”. He added that the association was also opposed to government intervention in the advertising industry.
It would be “contradictory” to place restrictions on the advertising of a product (such as cigarettes), if that product can be legally sold, he said, adding that a ban could “cause a big dent in the economy and result in large numbers of people being put out of work”.
According to an advertising research company, the country’s total adspend figures for the year ending June 1996 was about R4- billion – with tobacco advertising responsible for R166-million.
Last year the total adspend was R4,2-billion with R168-million spent on tobacco advertising.
According to Adindex 1996 figures, tobacco advertising accounted for 19,6% of adspend in the magazine industry compared with 30% for newspapers. For 1995, the figures were 17% and 37% respectively.
This year’s Adindex figures indicated that 42% of adspend in print media was related to tobacco products, while radio was responsible for 37% of tobacco advertising. Tobacco adspend in print and radio showed a 5% rise since last year.
The country’s media would be “hard-hit” by a ban as the sector relied heavily on tobacco advertising, Dickins said.
For many of the emerging community radio stations fighting for a piece of the shrinking advertising pie, it would be a death blow if tobacco advertising were banned, Dickins warned.
Talib Sadic, the SABC’s chief finance executive, said advertising on the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s radio stations was aimed mostly at white, coloured and Indian audiences, with advertisers spending a lot less on African language broadcasts.
African language stations are already battling and could not afford a cut in advertising revenue, Sadic said.
Advertising manager of National Magazines Limited (Natmags) Henry van Rensburg argued that legislation permitting a ban on tobacco products could cause some advertising agencies to shut down as tobacco advertising formed a substantial portion of their ad revenue.
Although economically detrimental, Van Rensburg said restrictions on tobacco advertising were part of a global trend and were inevitable.
Natmags therefore regarded tobacco advertising as a “volatile” source of revenue and would no longer include it in their forecasts of projected advertising turnover, Van Rensburg said.
At the time of going to press, the relevant health officials had not responded regarding the state of legislation to ban tobacco advertising. But the director of the National Council Against Smoking, Yusuf Saloojee, citing recent consultation with the ministry, said he was aware that it was being “seriously considered” although he had no knowledge of a discussion document in circulation.
He said that support for this move was growing within the government and the anti- smoking lobby was pressing for legislation placing a total ban on tobacco advertising, in line with the World Health Organisation’s recommendations.
The anti-smoking lobby would oppose any compromise in the form of voluntary agreements to withdraw or reduce tobacco advertising by tobacco companies, said Saloojee. “These types of arguments left too many loopholes,” he argued.
He said that if the government put 20c more tax on a pack of 20, it would amount to R200-million extra revenue that could be used to establish a health promotion fund that could place advertisements in the media promoting a healthy lifestyle – thus acting as a buffer for losses in tobacco adspend.
However, Dickins discounted Saloojee’s tax proposal as a viable solution, saying it was based on inaccurate accounting.