The World Health Organisation has slammed the organisers of the big music concert due to be held at the Johannesburg Stadium this weekend as
“irresponsible” for allowing the concert to be sponsored by a tobacco company.
Billed as a “mega gig”, the concert promoted by Big Concerts is scheduled to feature three stages with international
acts playing rhythm and blues, rap, and dance. But the head of the WHO in South Africa, Dr Welile Shasha, has condemned
the concert promoters for accepting sponsorship from big tobacco company, Peter Stuyvestant, in the
face of the Tobacco Products Control Act of 1999, and the regulations concerning this Act which were published at
the end of September. “We are not sure, but this concert could even be illegal,” said Dr
Shasha. “Clearly they are targetting young people: the concert features international stars, has no age restriction, and is priced affordably for
young people. Will they ensure that no cigarettes are sold to children under the age of 16? I doubt it – they may even
be offered free cigarettes, which is also illegal!”
It is now public knowledge from settlement disclosures made in the United States by the tobacco industry that it believes “younger smokers
have been the critical factor in the growth and decline of every major brand and company …Younger adult smokers are the only source of
replacement smokers... If younger adults turn away from smoking the industry must decline, just as a population
which does not give birth will eventually dwindle” (R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company internal memo, 29
February 1984). South Africa’s smoking rates have dropped by about 30% in the last
decade, due largely to legislation, price hikes and health warnings. Yet the tobacco industry persists in their argument that the billions they
spend on tobacco advertising and promotion is aimed at keeping brand loyalty, rather than a deliberate attempt to increase the number
of people who smoke.
British American Tobacco (BAT) owns about 90% of the cigarette brands produced in South Africa, including Peter
Stuyvestant.
(Source: Health Promotion and Information, WHO, 25/10/00)
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