This paper concludes: 'Deceptive health appeals using tactics developed by Western tobacco companies are helping China Tobacco grow sales.' Citation and opening paragraphs below.
CITATION: World Report| Volume 404, ISSUE 10453, P642-645, August 17, 2024
Low tar cigarette marketing driving a boom in sales in China
Jason McLure, Jude Chan
Published: August 17, 2024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01686-6
'A deceptive and deadly marketing approach that Western tobacco companies were forced to disavow is propelling cigarette sales in China to new heights. Smokers buy half a trillion low tar cigarettes in China each year, accounting for 20% of all sales in the world's biggest tobacco market, according to data from TobaccoChina, a trade magazine. Sales are rising, up 50% in 2022 from 6 years earlier.
'Although cigarette packages do not actually display the words ”low tar”, they prominently display their tar content, and some incorporate the tar levels in their name. Zhongnanhai, a popular China Tobacco brand developed for the chain-smoking Chairman Mao Zedong, sells lines named “Black Eight” and “Five” — a reference to their machine-measured levels of tar in milligrams.
“The Chinese state tobacco monopoly started late but is following Big Tobacco's low tar marketing strategy from the 20th century”, said Mary Assunta, a senior policy adviser at the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance. “It's not surprising smokers would choose Chinese-branded low tar cigarettes. Many smokers mistakenly think they are safer.”
'The marketing of low tar cigarettes as a less risky alternative was a major part of the business model of Western tobacco companies for decades as they sought to dissuade smokers from quitting. But the science ultimately did not support the claims. Lung cancer rates among older smokers kept rising in the USA even after low tar cigarette use became widespread, and the National Cancer Institute concluded in 2001 that there was no evidence such cigarettes brought any public health benefits...'
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
