Following an anti-smoking editorial in The Star, R&R Tobacco have withdrawn their advertising, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy
THE Rembrandt International group’s tobacco arm, R&R Tobacco has decided to pull more than one-million-rand’s worth of advertising from The Star newspaper following an editorial written by editor Peter Sullivan.
Gauteng Newspapers managing director Deon du Plessis said one of the reasons given by the tobacco company was that it “did not want to embarrass the editor of The Star” following his editorial which appeared two weeks ago on October 21.
The editorial, which was clearly anti- smoking, stated that the Minister of Health, Nkosazana Zuma, should be supported in her stand against tobacco companies who “disregard the current advertising regulations”.
The editorial entitled “Hard line on smoke ads” was based largely on a report emanating from Harvard University in the United States and used information from the report to back-up an argument against tobacco advertisers who were flouting the rules.
One of the report’s findings was that in 25 years time smoking will be the single biggest cause of death and disability worldwide. The editorial ended with the following: “In the light of this, Zuma’s threat of an outright ban is justified, especially against those companies which she claims are flouting the rules. Zuma’s responsibility is to ensure our finite health budget is not squandered on cancer or respiratory and cardiovascular ailments which could be reduced simply by discouraging people from smoking”.
However, this week, Sullivan said he “would be delighted” to have Rembrandt’s advertising and “will not at all be embarrassed.
“I believe absolutely in the right of the newspaper to say what it wishes about smoking or any other matter without interference by the advertiser,” he said adding that he also “believes in the advertiser’s right to advertise wherever they choose”.
Rembrandt Group Limited international company secretary, Jan Engelbrecht, said he was unaware of any tobacco withdrawals, but was not in a position to confirm or deny the allegations against the R&R Tobacco group.
Despite repeated efforts, R&R Tobacco press officer Hans Knoetze did not respond to any of the Mail & Guardian’s queries other than to say that “because of the sensitivities regarding this issue” the company was unable to make any comment.
“R&R Tobacco and The Star have exchanged views and there are mutual understanding and respect for each other’s viewpoint,” he said. But an insider at the group confirmed that the advertising has been pulled from The Star in direct response to Sullivan’s editorial.
Sullivan added that it was “very good news that the advertising slots vacated by the group had immediately been picked up by other clients who were extremely happy to have the prime positions on the front page”.
President of the South African Chapter of the International Advertising Association, Bryan Butler, said he was surprised at Sullivan’s editorial and “equally surprised that tobacco advertising was withdrawn.
“If this situation has drawn attention to how people play with words and exercise their freedom of expression, then maybe it has served a good purpose,” he said, adding that it is “strange that an editor who jealously guards a newspaper’s and journalists’ freedom of expression should be quite happy to recommend that someone else, in this case the tobacco companies, lose theirs”.