Earned media efforts target tobacco promotion and sponsorship in Indonesia
In Indonesia, the tobacco industry is poorly regulated. Legislation banning tobacco advertising and marketing is weak, as are laws that establish smoke-free places and require health warnings on cigarette packaging, and tobacco industry interests are well represented in government. As a result, major multinational tobacco companies are free to employ marketing tactics that they are prohibited from using elsewhere.
Tobacco company sponsorship of events that target youth and young adults can be especially difficult to monitor and regulate, even in countries that have enacted strong tobacco control legislation. Several Indonesian nongovernmental organizations have successfully developed and implemented strategies focused on earned media, which involves outreach to journalists to generate news stories in print and broadcast media.
In July 2008, Indonesian nongovernmental organizations contacted popular singer Alicia Keys to ask her to withdraw tobacco industry sponsorship of her concert in Jakarta and to speak out against the tobacco industry. The story was pitched to international media outlets, generating a number of news stories in both international and Indonesian media. As a result of this coverage, Keys immediately demanded that the tobacco sponsorship be withdrawn, and the sponsoring company (Philip Morris International) agreed to remove billboards and posters promoting its involvement.
Other successes resulting from earned media range from stopping promotional activities and giveaways of free cigarette samples at concerts, forcing withdrawal of tobacco companies from sponsorship of high-profile music festivals, and highlighting marketing of tobacco products directly to children。
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