Anti-rs Disapprove of Alicia Keys’s Concert Sponsorship
Tuesday, August 05, 2008 (GST)
Philip Morris pulls some promotional materials as a result of the controvsersy. Philip Morris pulls some promotional materials as a result of the controvsersy. The Indonesian branch of Philip Morris International has pulled promotional materials with cigarette branding from their sponsorship of Alicia Keys’s concerts after anti-smoking complaints, Reuters reports. The Grammy winning American singer is set to perform in Jakarta on Thursday as a part of her “As I Am,” world tour. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids sent letters to Keys and Philip Morris Chief Executive Louis Camilleri, requesting that the cigarette firm withdraw sponsorship from the concert. The group said that it was particularly concerned that “an estimated 78 percent of current Indonesian rs started before the age of 19,” a key age in Keys’s demographic. “We respect those who are concerned and disagree” with the firm’s sponsorship, said Niken Rachmad, a spokeswoman for Indonesia’s second largest cigarette maker, PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk. The group is a subsidiary of the Altria Group, Inc.’s Philip Morris—the largest cigarette-maker in the United States. Indonesia, the world’s fifth-largest tobacco market, sells some of the world’s cheapest , at about $1 a pack. The $8 billion tobacco industry also plays a key role in the country’s economy. Taxes on account for about 10 percent of government income, while the industry also provides millions of jobs. Because of the tobacco industry’s influence, Indonesia was reluctant to sign the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, meant to cut cigarette consumption. Bans on smoking in pubic areas in Indonesia are also rarely enforced.