Tobacco Industry News

Reports

Tobacco marketing surveillance newsletter from Trinkets & Trash
The University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey has started to release monthly Surveillance Updates as part of their Trinkets & Trash (T&T) project. T&T monitors, collects, and documents tobacco products and industry marketing tactics to keep tobacco control practitioners up to date on the latest products and advertising campaigns. Images of each new item are posted to the T&T website weekly; the new monthly updates will contain information useful in monitoring the industry. Click here to read the May 2010 inaugural issue of the Surveillance Update. To subscribe to the T&T mailing list, contact trinketsandtrash@umdnj.edu.

Altria to increase prices on cigarette brands
Altria Group Inc., the largest tobacco company in the United States, has announced that it will raise wholesale prices on all eighteen of its cigarette brands. The move will follow a large gain in customers for their top-selling Marlboro brand in the first quarter of 2010. The Philip Morris USA division will raise the price on Marlboros and Virginia Slims by eight cents per pack. The price increases, slated for May 10, are not outside of the normal range of price increases, according to analysts. Click here to read more.

Reynolds to raise prices on Camel, all cigarettes
Reynolds American Inc., the second largest tobacco company in the United States, has announced a price increase on over twenty brands and varieties of cigarettes. The increases will range from eight cents per pack for some brands like Camel and Pall Mall to 33 cents per pack for labels like Carlton and Lucky Strike. Reynolds has declined to explain the reason behind the price increase, although like Altria Group, their share of smokers increased in the first quarter. The price increases were scheduled for May 12. Read more here.

Big Tobacco cutting contracts with US farmers
Top US tobacco companies have begun to end contracts with farmers as demand for tobacco products decreases and competition from global markets grows. A spokesperson for R.J. Reynolds explained that higher excise taxes and smoking restrictions result in lower cigarette sales, and therefore less need for tobacco leaf. Additionally, worldwide tobacco production has recently grown, creating competition with the US markets. The Food and Drug Administration’s authority over tobacco products is fueling conservative purchases. Estimates of cuts range from to 10% in North Carolina, the country’s largest overall tobacco producer, to 25% in Kentucky, the country’s top producer of burley tobacco. Click here to read more.

New product watch: Ploom announces new alternative to smoking
San Francisco tobacco company Ploom has announced a new series of products that heat “pods” to form a vapor. The product is designed to replicate the social experience of smoking hookah without using combustible tobacco. Flavored tobacco and non-tobacco pods made from tea leaves and herbs are available. The products are currently being sold at San Francisco retailers, and are available nationally from the company’s website. Read more about the products here, or click here to go to the company’s website.

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International

Ferrari bar code axed in puff of smoke
Formula One racing team Ferrari has changed its team logo in response to speculation that the design was a discreet form of advertising for the team’s sponsor, Philip Morris. The European Public Health Commissioner believed that the approach constituted subliminal marketing of tobacco products, which is in violation of European Union law. Before Ferrari’s decision to change the logo, several tobacco control advocates had called for a formal inquiry. Ferrari issued a statement stating that the logo had been changed to remove any speculation about its significance, and that the design was never intended to reference the tobacco brand. Philip Morris has been one of the largest sponsors in the sport for several decades, despite all other Formula One teams voluntarily ending tobacco sponsorships four year ago. Click here for more on Ferrari’s decision or click here to learn more about the outcry over the logo.

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