All these years later smoking has been vilified because of the effects it has on health. Some western governments have been coming down hard on smoking: banning it from indoors, enforcing retail display bans and gobsmacking taxes and forcing manufacturers to print colour pictures of the hideous effects it has on our insides.
Last week the New Zealand government said legislation to enforce plain packaging should be passed by Christmas: the purchaser will know what they're buying but no one else will see the brand.
Countries that have enforced this say standardised packaging is less attractive to teenagers and it has resulted in more people trying to quit.
So how do the big tobacco brands survive without the freedom to market?
Very well, it seems.
The $21 billion Marlboro brand ranks in the world's top 30 brands. Marlboro is the number one tobacco brand.
Although tactics, including legal action, used by the tobacco industry to resist government regulation indicate they are concerned.
There is endless evidence to show that if a brand is quiet in the market, brand awareness drops quickly and significantly.
But despite cigarette advertising being banned here over 50 years ago, tobacco brands live on dominated by three companies: British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Philip Morris.
So if they can't advertise, can't sponsor anything, are banned from retail display and now, can't display their brand on packaging how do they maintain their brand awareness?
It's like Whack-a-mole, if you bash it in one area, it pops up somewhere else. That somewhere is new media a perfect for their target market – young people.
Tobacco advertising has been found in video games including brand placement such as Marlboro billboards in Super Monaco GP, product placement (cigar smoking in Halo 2) and brand stretching (Marlboro cars in Ferrari Formula One).
Research shows nearly half of video games released between 1994 and 2015 feature characters smoking tobacco, e-cigarettes or talking about tobacco. There is no legislative requirement to place warnings in this medium.
And with tobacco, brand loyalty goes to a whole new level – brand addiction – hook them in and they're lifelong customers.
Despite the legislation, tobacco still has values that appeal.
The more authorities say it's bad, the more it might attract a rebellious teenager. Think James Dean, Pulp Fiction's Uma Thurman, even sexy vampire Robert Pattinson has been photographed smoking.
It can be a social crutch and some say smoking's relaxing. There's even a certain social naughtiness amidst grownups cast outside to satiate their addiction, huddling on a street corner having a goss over a ciggie.
Our government wants smoking eradicated by 2025 but making it illegal isn't an option. Bhutan tried and ended up with a healthy black market.
There are numerous examples of brands that have succeeded without the use of traditional marketing.
What is unique about tobacco brands is that there has been such a sustained legislative effort at trying to shut them out, along with a massive cultural change in our attitudes to smoking.
But, despite swimming against the tide, tobacco brands still have strong brand awareness and a healthy bank balance.
Big ups to governments who have made head roads into dramatically changing the culture of smoking.
But the battle between the power of government and the strength of multi-billion dollar companies will continue for years to come as tobacco companies continue to come up with inventive ways to hook in customers.
Resource: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/80776628/cas-carter-tobacco-branding-will-survive
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