Club Promotions

In many countries, bars and clubs have become prime venues to promote cigarettes.

In Europe...

 British American Tobacco, Rothmans, and Philip Morris have all launched covert campaigns that work by creating hype about nightclubs and events, which are later revealed to be havens of tobacco promotion.

The three companies' schemes vary somewhat, but each involves luring unsuspecting young people to clubs and events with the promise of a trendy scene, then greeting them with a barrage of tobacco products and advertising.

In 1999, BAT launched a website called citygobo.com (formerly citygorilla.com). The site poses as an independent source of information on clubbing in Belgium and Poland. It contains no mention of tobacco, no company logo, no indication whatsoever that the clubs it lists have been selected not for being hip and happening, but for having signed contracts with big tobacco.

Once drawn into these venues, patrons are overrun with branded tobacco merchandise. Everything from coasters to ashtrays to furniture bears BAT brand logos and colours. 'Cigarette girls' sell BAT brands, and BAT vending machines lurk in every corner.

An internal memo states that BAT fear that its plan would not work if its target audience - young people - knew that a cigarette company was behind it. By hiding their involvement and deliberately misleading it audience, however, the same memo states that it hopes to attract 600,000 unique users to the website by the end of 2001.

Rothmans has implemented a similar plan. The company negotiates exclusive distribution rights to bars and clubs, then runs expensive ads hyping the clubs as 'in' places. Like BAT website, the Rothmans-sponsored club ads give no indication whatsoever that a tobacco company is involved.

In Australia...

Philip Morris is running a slightly different scheme in Australia. PM's plan is aimed squarely at marketing Alpine cigarettes to young women. The company has established an internet company called WavesNet (www.wavesnet.net), which runs fashion shows and raves aimed at teenage girls.

Visitors to the site are asked to take out free memberships. They are then sent invitations to the events. The events feature Alpine merchandise and displays, as well as 'cigarette girls' selling discounted cigarettes. Although the company claims that only those over the age of 18 are allowed to attend, a reporter posing as a 17-year-old girl was told that her ticket was waiting at the door.

Not only are the visitors not told of the association between the site and the tobacco company, but many of the events' independent sponsors claim that they were not made aware of the association either. When informed of the connection by local media, some sponsors pulled out of the events.

Benson & Hedges "vivre la nuit" events reached club-goers -  without overtly using the  Benson & Hedges logo

In Canada...

Bars and clubs are increasingly the venue of cigarette promotions (the Tob