uk bat.com - Our International Marketing Standards

Wherever they do business around the world, our companies’ marketing is governed by our International Marketing Standards.

Our Standards are globally consistent and embody in detail our commitment to marketing appropriately and only to adult tobacco consumers. They aim to ‘raise the bar’ by establishing a benchmark for the industry worldwide.

At end 2009, 37 per cent of our global volume was being sold in countries where our International Marketing Standards are generally stricter than local laws.

The Standards cover all tobacco product marketing and messaging for consumers across print, billboards, electronic media, promotional events and sponsorship.

Examples, in brief outline, of how they address tobacco product brand communications include:

• Not to be aimed at, or particularly appeal to youth;
• Not to feature a celebrity nor link tobacco with sporting, professional, social or sexual success;
• Not to appear in printed publications unless at least 75 per cent of readers are verified as adults;
• To carry a health warning as well as the health warnings on product packs;
• No giant billboard advertising and no billboards at all within 100 metres of a school;
• No web, television, cinema or radio advertising unless the audience can be restricted to verified adults;
• No direct or indirect product placement;
• No event sponsorship unless the participants and audience are adults;
• No direct consumer contact unless with verified adult consumers;
• No unsolicited free samples.

Download our International Marketing Standards in full

Our companies are expected to observe the Standards in both the letter and intent, to actively encourage retailers and other business partners to apply them and to work to prevent our tobacco product brand names, trademarks or logos from being used by others in a way that violates the Standards.

Background

Before we launched the International Marketing Standards, our marketing had been guided for many years by our Group Advertising Principles.  These had set out, for example, that any advertising and promotional activities by our companies would be directed at adult smokers, that no health claims would be made about tobacco products, that people appearing in advertising would not be, or appear to be, younger than 25, and more.

In 2001, we built further on these by launching the Standards.  As well as requiring that marketing activities and messages should not particularly appeal to youth, feature celebrities or suggest that smoking enhances popularity or sporting, sexual or professional success, the Standards meant that our companies stopped any advertising of tobacco product brands on TV and radio, even where it was still allowed by local law.

In line with the Standards, we also exited from tobacco brand sponsorship of Formula One racing after honouring commercial commitments to December 2006, although not all our competitors did.

We aim to keep the Standards relevant as the international marketing and regulatory environment evolves.  In 2007, we updated them to include, for example, more detail on procedures to be followed for adult verification and the responsible use of new and emerging channels of consumer communication.

Auditing our companies’ adherence

Adherence by our companies is continuously monitored by our internal audit teams and reviewed by regional audit and CSR committees, which include Non-Executive Directors, other members of the British American Tobacco p.l.c Board and members of the Management Board.  Global performance is monitored by the Board CSR Committee.

We welcome information from anybody who believes that any of our companies are not living up to the Standards.  You are welcome to send any concerns through Contact Us.

Local laws

In many parts of the world our Standards are stricter than local laws or industry voluntary codes, and competitors do not necessarily follow such tight procedures.  However, marketing by all our companies everywhere is governed by our Standards, even if this might place some of them at a competitive disadvantage.

We continue to invite other tobacco companies to subscribe to the Standards.  To promote higher standards generally, as well as a level competitive playing field, our companies ask governments to embody our Standards or similar provisions into local law.  Of course, if local laws are stricter than our Standards, our companies observe the law.

Read about our companies’ adherence to the Standards, as well as how local laws compared to our updated Standards at end 2009.

Looking ahead

We keep in mind the scope to tighten our Standards still more.  But this could place our companies at further competitive disadvantage unless our competitors also adopt our Standards, or governments embody them into laws. 

Areas where our companies will engage with governments and competitors on ‘raising the bar’ still higher include:

• No ‘out of home’ advertising at all, including outside stores;
• No in-store advertising to be visible from outside the shop; 
• No automated vending machines unless the purchaser can be verified as adult.

Could it be different for smokeless products?

Our companies also apply our Standards to the marketing of Swedish style snus.  However, we believe there is enough scientific evidence to support a less restrictive regime for consumer communications about certain smokeless tobacco products on the basis of their potentially lower risk to health.

We continue to seek dialogue with regulators and health authorities about how the attributes of potentially less harmful products might be communicated to consumers.

Find out more about the snus we have begun marketing in Smokeless snus.