MIDDLE EAST
WORLD NEWS
Tobacco ads target women
Google searches your location
GLOBAL Google has launched a new service that
reveals people’s locations using mobile phones. Google
Cigarette companies slammed by health experts for marketing towards females
Latitude, an opt-in addition to Google Maps, allows users
to share their location with friends and family. The latest
SOUTH KOREA Leading tobacco manufacturers innovation from the search engine has drawn scrutiny
have been accused of waging aggressive marketing due to privacy implications, although users can quit the
campaigns on the country’s female population. service at any time.
According to the latest Globalization and Health Services that track users have been seen as a way to
journal, international tobacco companies have been further unlock the marketing potential of mobile internet
running ads that link the image of smoking with the use, but have been slow to emerge, due in part to privacy
liberation and social success of women. The ads concerns. Users in 27 countries, including India, Russia
convey similar messages to those seen in Europe and and Hong Kong, will be able to track friends from a
the United States during the 1920s. handset or personal computer.
“Associating smoking with body image and female
emancipation has been extensively used in South
Korea to appeal to female smokers,” says Kelley Lee,
WPP lands on Jupiter
leader of the research team at London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The research found that ‘ultra light,’ ‘low tar’
and ‘superslim’ cigarettes have been particularly
successful, falsely suggesting that certain brands are
healthier or safer options.
The South Korean government has forbidden
tobacco advertising marketed directly to women and
children since 1989, but Globalization and Health
says tobacco companies have found ways to promote
brands within the boundaries of the law, including
SOUTH AFRICA Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP advertising group
distributing free cigarettes at cafes and nightclubs.
has taken a major stake in The Jupiter Drawing Room, one
Smoking rates among women in certain age groups
of South Africa’s largest agencies. The British ad giant has
have risen sharply in the past 20 years in Korea, the
acquired 49 per cent of the company whose key clients
study found.
include the likes of Hyundai, Minute Maid (owned by Coca-
The report’s researchers say the Korean
Cola), South African Airways and MTN (SA’s largest mobile
government needs to tighten advertising restrictions
phone network).
and educate the public on the facts of smoking.
The Jupiter Drawing Room, founded in Johannesburg in
“The implementation of comprehensive tobacco
1989, is the leading creative agency group in the country
control measures in South Korea, as set out under
according to the Creativity League Table 2008, compiled
the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, is
by Creative Circle—the representative body for creatives in
urgently needed to protect and promote the health
South Africa. Jupiter will be able to retain its name, unlike
of Korean women and girls,” Lee tells Globalization
most agencies that are bundled into a WPP brand network.
and Health.
08 / 08 FEBRUARY 2009 www.mediaweekme.com
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36