Philip Morris funds Australia's vaping lobby

An investigation published in the Australian Financial Review newspaper, details the links, including financial, of the tobacco industry, particularly Philip Morris, with retail organizations, front groups pro-vaping and other lobbyists Australians.

The investigation[1]-[2] exposes the murky links between the tobacco industry and front groups that have lobbied for years to influence public health policy in Australia. The authors explain that the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) was forced to end its relationship with the Philip Morris-funded public relations agency Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) until 2020. The ARA’s decision came in August 2020, when it was revealed that BCW had received funding from Philip Morris to lobby the Australian government to legalise the sale of e-cigarettes. ARA executive director Paul Zahra says he was unaware of BCW’s links to the tobacco company and that the original contract had been entered into by former executive director Russell Zimmerman.

BCW worked with the ARA from August 2019 to July 2020 to provide support to one of its committees, the Australian Retail Vaping Industry.y Association (ARVIA) to legalise e-cigarettes, in collaboration with another organisation called Legalise Vaping Australia. The two organisations lobbied 28 Australian MPs who called on Health Minister Greg Hunt to reject the proposed ban on the import of e-liquids for e-cigarettes.[3].

ARA, a very active front group for the tobacco industry

The Alliance of Australian Retailers is in reality a tobacco industry front group funded by Philip Morris, Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco.[4]. Internal documents have revealed the organisation’s links to the tobacco industry and showed that Philip Morris’s corporate affairs director, Chris Argent, played a key role in its creation and day-to-day operations. According to the internal documents, on the day the alliance was formed in August 2010, it received millions of dollars from the three tobacco companies: $1 million from Imperial Tobacco Australia, $2.2 million from BAT and $2.1 million from Philip Morris. The ARA was set up to oppose the government’s introduction of plain packaging in Australia. It is run by Australian public relations agency The Civic Group (TCG), which is funded for this purpose, to the tune of $200,000$ per month, by tobacco company PMI.

The organisation was set up to oppose the government’s introduction of plain packaging in Australia and is therefore managed by Australian public relations agency The Civic Group (TCG), which is funded for this purpose by cigarette manufacturer PMI. When it was launched, the ARA did not disclose its links to the industry and instead presented itself as a grassroots initiative by small businesses and retailers opposed to plain packaging. It launched a media counter-campaign to block the introduction of plain packaging. Advertisements featuring portraits of concerned retailers, claiming that plain packaging would not work and would harm their businesses, appeared across the country in print, on national television and on radio.[5].

This is a typical influence technique used by the tobacco industry:astroturfing, the simulation of a popular movement, in reality controlled by a company or a hidden organization.

Keywords: Australia, Lobby, Vaping, Interference, Philip Morris ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Neil Chenoweth, Australian Retailers Association cancels secret tobacco contract, Australian Financial Review, 20 February 2021, accessed 25 February 2021 [2] Neil Chenoweth, More vaping lobbyists linked to Big Tobacco, Australian Financial Review, 22 February 2021, accessed 25 February 2021 [3] Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, Australia's ban on nicotine importation lifted…for now, June 27, 2020, accessed February 25, 2021 [4] Tobacco Tactics, Alliance of Australian Retailers, last updated January 31, 2020, accessed February 25, 2021 [5] Greenhalgh, EM., Hagan, K., Freeman, B., and Winstanley, M. 10A.7 Mechanisms of influence—political lobbying. In Scollo, MM and Winstanley, MH, Tobacco in Australia: Facts and issues. Melbourne: Cancer Council Victoria; 2018. National Committee Against Smoking |