15 January 2024

UK

Secondary school is forced to apologise after school leaflet said cigarettes can beat stress

I watched my mum die. I’ve just been diagnosed with the same condition

International

Olympics brings on its first beer brand as a global sponsor - Budweiser's AB InBev

Australian students handed ‘wellbeing shots’ made by subsidiary of British American Tobacco – as experts fear new front in health wars

UK

Secondary school is forced to apologise after school leaflet said cigarettes can beat stress

A Birmingham school has apologised after a pupil was handed a leaflet which listed smoking a cigarette as a mental health self-help technique.

The flyer recommending the habit was handed out by a member of staff at Bartley Green School, on the southwest edge of Birmingham, it confirmed in an email to parents.

The literature advised those who needed support to consider measures like “have a bath or shower” “stay in bed” and “use aromatherapy oils”.

It also suggested “eat chocolate”, “have a cup of tea”, “stroke a pet/cuddle a teddy “ and “smoke a cigarette.”

The school later sent an email to parents and carers apologising for the error.

It read: "The school has been made aware of concerns raised in the community regarding a resource provided to a Bartley Green School pupil that suggests smoking a cigarette for mental health issues."

"We can confirm an inaccurate resource was given to one pupil by a member of school staff in error. This should not have happened and we apologise for this."

"The school would like to confirm that Bartley Green School does not promote the smoking of cigarettes as comfort for mental health concerns."

I watched my mum die. I’ve just been diagnosed with the same condition

Writing in the Metro, Katy Brown, Asthma + Lung UK advocate, describes watching her mother die from COPD after a lifetime of smoking only to be diagnosed by the condition herself, also caused by years of smoking.

Katy recalls having her first cigarette at only 8, admitting to being “hooked” by the time she was a teenager. She recalls “countless” attempts to quit over the years but found it hard not to relapse. She finally quit smoking in 2018, with help from medication, but by this time the years of smoking had caused damage.

Katy describes being “haunted” by the fact that smoking had made her so ill, and the relatively young age of 63. She describes the heart of feeling her physical health decline, having to leave her job and give up retirement plans to travel.

Experiencing the same smoking related illnesses as her mother, Katy says she supports the governments plans to raise the age of sale so that young people cannot take up cigarettes saying “if we can stop young people from smoking, we can protect them from this awful disease”.

Source: Metro, 15 January 2023

See also: Stopping the next generation from starting to smoke
 

International

Olympics brings on its first beer brand as a global sponsor - Budweiser's AB InBev

The International Olympic Committee has signed Anheuser-Busch InBev as the first beer brand in the 40-year history of its sponsorship program, which earns billions of dollars for the organization and international sports.

The deal was announced Friday by the IOC and AB InBev - the Belgium-based brewing giant whose brands include Budweiser, Corona, Michelob and Modelo - for the next three Summer and Winter Games. The Paris Olympics open on July 26, and the deal also includes the 2026 Winter Games in northern Italy, then - the likely prize asset - the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

Corona Cero, the zero-alcohol version of the Corona brand that is ranked second most valuable worldwide in the brewing industry, will be "global beer sponsor of the Olympic Games," the heads of the IOC and AB InBev said.

Longtime partnerships with Coca-Cola and McDonald's prompted the IOC, its then-president Jacques Rogge acknowledged in 2012, to seek assurances that the companies would do more to help tackle obesity with low-sugar and low-fat options. Coca-Cola is still an Olympic sponsor, but the McDonald's deal ended three years early, in 2017.

The IOC's own stated marketing mission is to "not accept commercial associations with products that may conflict with or be considered inappropriate to the mission of the IOC or to the spirit of Olympism."

AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris told the Associated Press that he doesn't "see any conflict" with Corona Cero as the brand of the Games globally and Michelob Ultra being the sponsor of the U.S. team and of the 2028 LA Olympics because "we continue to drive responsible consumption as a message."

Sales of non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits have been growing faster than sales of their alcoholic counterparts for several years now, buoyed by younger drinker's concerns about health and wellness and a general trend toward moderation.

Alcohol companies see nonalcoholic drinks as a growth opportunity because they can keep customers within a brand, said Susie Goldspink, head of no- and low-alcohol insights at IWSR. If a drinker switches from Corona to nonalcoholic Corona Cero, for example, that's still revenue for AB InBev.

IOC sponsors, now at a record 15, do not get to display their names or slogans at Olympics stadiums and venues. Sponsors do get exclusive worldwide rights to use Olympic branding like the iconic five rings symbol in its own advertising and campaign activations, such as running competitions on drinks cans and packaging.

Source: Associated Press, 12 January 2024

Australian students handed ‘wellbeing shots’ made by subsidiary of British American Tobacco – as experts fear new front in health wars

Australian university students were subject to a marketing ploy on Campus by wellness shot company Ryde, who handed out free samples and filmed TikToks with students.

The wellness shot's are 60ml bottles of liquid containing ingredients which the company claims will "revive" those who take it, improving their focus and energy levels. 

However, it was not revealed to students that Ryde is owned by the Water Street Collective- a wholly owned subsidiary of tobacco giant, British American Tobacco (BAT).

Christina Watts, a tobacco control researcher with the Daffodil Centre (a joint venture of Cancer Council NSW and the University of Sydney), said strong regulation had made it difficult to market cigarette and vaping products in Australia, but wellness marketing was “very lightly regulated”.

“The tobacco industry can use its decades of experience to push wellness products to a young target audience,” she said.

“On first glance it’s tempting to think the industry is moving away from deadly and addictive products. But these startup wellness brands and products do not replace tobacco profits, but serve only to expand revenue sources. These products are a thin veneer on what remains a deadly industry.”

Laura Schmidt, a professor of health policy with the University of California, and her colleagues have revealed how tobacco companies used their knowledge of artificial flavours, colours and marketing to expand into selling sugary drinks targeted at children.

Schmidt said any connection between tobacco and wellness brands was “essentially ‘healthwashing’ – attaching a health halo or harm reduction lens to the brand”.

Becky Freeman, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, said consumers had a right to know what they were buying, who they were buying it from and how they were being targeted. She described the wellness industry, worth trillions of dollars globally, as full of “baseless health claims and expensive products that do little more than empty your wallet”.

“These products often boil down to little more than clever and aspirational marketing,” she said. “And, as has been proven over decades of success, the tobacco industry are master marketers. In this light, it’s unsurprising the tobacco industry in trying to get a piece of the lucrative wellness market.”

Source: The Guardian, 14 January 2024

See Also: Tobacco Industry Tactics