JTI Consultancies: 2008-2017

2008 to 2012, JTI commissioned (consultancy based in United Kingdom), to perform economic analysis on proposed Plain Packaging in the UK, first considered by the UK government in 2008 and 2010. Four reports, prepared based on Europe Economics work, warned that if plain packaging were implemented, it would lead to an increase in counterfeit and/or contraband tobacco that would…

Outside China, the global market for tobacco and related products is dominated by the ‘big four’ transnational companies. This article links to pages on each company and to the Tobacco Supply Chain database.

Key points Worldwide, around 50 million young teens (13-15) either smoke cigarettes or use smokeless tobacco, and nearly 155 million youth (15-24) smoke tobacco.2021 90% of new users of tobacco products become addicted by the age of 25.22 Annually, tobacco addiction causes more than 8 million deaths and approximately US$2 trillion in economic damage.23 Most adults…

In March, 2020 British American Tobacco (BAT) rebranded its website, with a new logo and the prominent strapline “A Better Tomorrow”.180 This phrase was originally trademarked by subsidiary Nicoventures in July 2019 and used to promote its newer nicotine products, notably in motorsports. It was also registered to cover conventional tobacco products.181…

Image 1: Selection of BAT’s glo HTP devices (screenshot taken from discoverglo.jp, November 2019) Due to its focus on e-cigarettes, BAT entered the HTP market later than its competitors Philip Morris International (PMI) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI). Products i-Fuse In 2015, BAT launched its first HTP product, iFuse, a hybrid product that heated an e-liquid…

Background The International Association on Smoking Control and Harm Reduction (SCOHRE) was founded in September 2020 at the 3rd Scientific Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction. SCOHRE has organised the subsequent Scientific Summits on Tobacco Harm Reduction 228 SCOHRE’s website states that: “SCOHRE is an International scientific Association of independent experts on Smoking Control & Harm Reduction, who seek an…

ADIT is a French “strategic intelligence” company that provides its business clients with “high-value information from field investigations and economic intelligence tools”, as well as services related to business diplomacy and security.259 This includes activities related to the illicit tobacco trade.260 Relationship to the tobacco industry Between July 2017 and April 2019, ADIT received funding from Philip…

Background Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) is a public relations (PR) company that was established in 2018 by a merger between two PR agencies owned by WPP; Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe. This merger reportedly made BCW one of the largest global communications agencies in the world.269 WPP is a PR and advertising conglomerate, and the parent…

Background The tobacco industry has a long history of attempting to influence science in order to cast doubt on evidence showing the harms of its products and to argue against the need for regulation of those products. In the 1950s when science began to establish a causal link between smoking and cancer, the industry mobilised to cast doubt on…

Image source: Nathan Hughes Hamilton/CC BY 2.0 DEED Key Points Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia, part of the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia Region. It is the fourth most populous country in the world, with a population in 2022 of 275.5 million. Tobacco use prevalence is high, particularly amongst men. 34.5% of all adults were current…