8.12 The tobacco industry and Indigenous communities
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Given the strong consumer base they provide, it is not surprising that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders have been targeted by tobacco industry marketing practices, along with other vulnerable and disadvantaged populations. According to the candid view of a tobacco company spokesman in the United States, 'We don't smoke that shit. We just sell it. We just reserve the right to smoke for the young, the poor, the black and the stupid.'127
Direct tobacco advertising in Australia now being a thing of the past, tobacco companies have found other ways to promote themselves among Indigenous communities. One company supported an Indigenous football team by donating a percentage of every dollar spent on a particular brand towards buying football guernseys for the team.26 Yet more questionable was the provision of funding in 2001 by Philip Morris Australia to the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated for the development of materials about substance use.128 Sponsorships of this nature could provide the impression that tobacco itself is not a cause for concern compared with other drug misuse, and might also influence the willingness of communities to take up and support tobacco control initiatives.
There is anecdotal evidence that the close connection for many rural Indigenous people with cattle farming has made the Philip Morris brand Marlboro, with its iconic symbol of the smoking cowboy, a popular brand choice.26, 116 Winfield, manufactured by Rothmans, is also strongly associated with the laconic working man through its launch using popular actor Paul Hogan in the 1970s. Winfield is also a leading brand used among Indigenous people.26
Interestingly, Rothmans used the image of an Australian Indigenous man playing the didgeridoo in an advertisement for its Winfield brand, launched in Germany in 1998.129 In 2005 Philip Morris launched a brand in Israel called Maori Mix that incorporated 'quasi-Maori' emblems and a map of New Zealand on the packaging.130 The exploitation of Australian and New Zealander Indigenous peoples, amongs whom tobacco is a leading cause of death and disease, attracted immediate criticism.129, 130 The Maori people received an apology.130
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