cigarettes

Small-scale commercial farmers are loosely defined as indigenous commercial farms. These holdings were first developed by the Government of Rhodesia between 1931 and 1961 in an effort to reduce congestion in communal areas reserved for the indigenous population. There are about 9 000 holdings in the SSC sector, occupying a total of 1.2 million hectares. Half of these farms are under conditional freehold title, while others are under a long-term lease with an option to buy. Although not as advanced as LSC growers, most SSC farmers still produce at a reasonably high level and enjoy good access to basic equipment, including ox ploughs and carts, hand sprayers, sufficient barn space for curing tobacco, and baling equipment. Smallholder farmers are only marginally involved in the tobacco sector.
Although there are roughly eight times as many smallholder tobacco growers (about 16 000 in total) as commercial farmers, these account for less than 1.5 percent of all smallholder households. Certainly, the importance of tobacco as a high profit crop with fully developed market outlets cannot be overlooked, but it should also be noted that maize, cotton and groundnut are all more important for smallholder farmers in most locations. One of the biggest effects which any shrinking of tobacco markets would have on smallholder farmers is likely to be the loss of remittances from workers employed on large farms, rather than the direct effect on smallholder farm enterprise income. Finding suitable diversification options for smallholder tobacco growers is still a major challenge for Zimbabwe, but not on the scale of having to work with farmers in all locations.
Three main types of tobacco are grown in Zimbabwe, namely flue-cured, burley and oriental tobacco. Of these, flue-cured is by far the most important and is generally produced in the better rainfall areas to the north and east of Harare. The northern regions produce a Virginia type of tobacco, whereas growers in the east produce a thicker, slower developing type used for blended cigarettes. Burley tobacco is grown mainly in the northeast and in the Eastern Highlands and is predominately a smallholder crop. These areas have better rainfall and longer periods of the high relative humidity needed for curing. Oriental tobacco accounts for less than 1 percent of total output by mass and is grown mainly by small-scale producers in Masvingo Province. Details of flue-cured and burley production by farm sector for the past two years are given are given in 7.2.

The first specific fraud finding Defendants challenge relates to their marketing of “light” cigarettes. The district court found: “As their internal documents reveal, Defendants engaged in massive, sustained, and highly sophisticated marketing and promotional campaigns to portray their light brands as less harmful than regular cigarettes.”
The court concluded “Defendants have known for decades that filtered and low tar cigarettes do not offer a meaningful reduction of risk, and that their marketing which emphasized reductions in tar and nicotine was false and 43 misleading.” Id. Defendants contend they should be immune from liability because the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has blessed their use of labels such as “light” and “low tar.” This argument is entirely foreclosed by the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Altria v. Good, concluding the FTC has never condoned the use of “light” or “low tar” descriptors.
Defendants point to a 1966 industry guidance letter from the FTC stating that “a factual statement of the tar and nicotine content (expressed in milligrams) of the mainstream smoke from a cigarette,” as measured by the Cambridge Filter Method. The “Commission made clear, however, that the guidance applied only to factual assertions of tar and nicotine yields and did not invite any ‘collateral representations . . . made, expressly or by implication, as to reduction or elimination of health hazards.’”

As many as 100 million Chinese men currently under age 30 will die from tobacco use.18 In India, about a quarter of deaths among middle-aged men are caused by smoking. As the number of smokers in this group increases with population growth, so will the number of deaths.
The shift of the tobacco epidemic to the developing world will lead to unprecedented levels of disease and early death in countries where population growth and the potential for increased tobacco use are highest and where health-care services are least available.
The rise in tobacco use among younger females in high-population countries is one of the most ominous potential developments of the epidemic’s growth. In many countries, women have traditionally not used tobacco: women smoke at about one fourth the rate of men. Because most women currently do not use tobacco, the tobacco industry aggressively markets to them to tap this potential new market. Advertising, promotion and sponsorship, including charitable donations to women’s causes, weaken cultural opposition to women using tobacco. Product design and marketing, including the use of attractive models in advertising and brands marketed specifically to women, are explicitly crafted to encourage women to smoke.

The hard pressed tobacco industry likes to present itself in a positive light whenever possible. The ads up above may lead you to believe that they need to do so. But don't let them fool you. Here is another side to the semi-subliminal elements you will find in Kool ads.
Of more than passing interest in this ad are the windows of this car. Look at both the front window to the left of the B in the B KOOL logo and also at the rear window. If you are slightly paranoid you will have no difficulty in perceiving that in both windows there is a face. If you are not paranoid then you will see them just as clearly if your vision is normal. Whether one wishes to see them as the grotesque faces of little green aliens or as the sad, desperate, faces of smokers in need of a cigarette, or whatever, there is little doubt that these 'faces' were embedded intentionally by the creators of the ad.
Whether the relationship cued by such figures is sexual, fearful or encouraging will depend upon the psychological make-up of the individual viewer but it is certain that the creators of such ads have investigated the psychological characteristics of their customers and potential customers. If you look at the original of this ad you may also be tempted to believe that the pattern on the watch strap (partially displayed on the intermediate size image linked to the ad above) is a bit too much like lettering once again. It might even lead one to think of the word sex once again. That, at least, would be consistent but not responsible marketing. So much for one of the self-styled responsible companies in an controversial industry.