Thru the Eye of Obscure

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Tobacco Sponsorship
Controversy and conspiracy on the little screen...

On 60 minutes yesterday there was a piece on the tobacco companies in NZ and the people who are getting tough with them.

The angle was that tobacco companies are getting slammed in the US with lawsuits now because it's finally been proven that:

  • They've known all along the stuff would kill us
  • They've also known all along that nicotine was addictive and yet they denied it for years and
  • They deliberately set out to hook us, even though they knew how bad it was

The Deputy Health Minister and a representative from ASH were both interviewed - he said he's after the blood of the tobacco companies and he wants to close 'em down and she said they're campaigning hard to show people the cynicism of the TCs and how they've set out to dupe us here too. The TCs in NZ deny it all and say they are nothing like the American ones, but they wouldn't appear on camera.

And then the shocker......

She's shown at a 'press conference' holding up a copy of RE:MIX (it was easily identifiable - not sure if they said its name or not) - and claimed that it was either sponsored by OR OWNED BY (she said "we think it's owned by") a tobacco company (Dunhill?) and that the colouring chosen on the pages is subtle subliminal advertising, as it uses the brand colours of the cigarettes.

I took a look at June's RE:MIX afterwards and yes there were Dunhill colours on it - particularly on the Party People pages - which were framed within the Dunhill colours and had the byline at the bottom - but it was also sort of obvious (because of the byline and colours) that it was sort of an ad.... actually no, maybe it wasn't, maybe it's just cos I looked carefully... and I wonder if all those party people knew they were going to be part of a cigarette ad if that's what it was....

Anyway, Remix - what's the real story? Are they simply a front for the evil tobacco barons to get their claws into dance culture without us realising it - or are they simply paying for advertising space in the mag and being creative with the ads - or was it all in the ASH woman's fevered imagination....