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Alicia Keys Drops Smoking Sponsorship Of Overseas Concert
July 31, 2008 9:40 AM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Jakarta, Indonesia
Philip Morris International has yanked its sponsorship of the Alicia Keys concert that will take place tonight at the Jakarta Convention Center.
Tobacco industries are targeting developing countries the same way they used to target developed countries, such as the United States, decades ago. In this case, a major cigarette brand sponsored a hip and popular concert in a third-world country.
As ABC’s Rachel Martin reports, “According to the world's largest tobacco seller, Altria, the maker of Marlboro, cigarette sales in the U.S. are declining 2 percent to 3 percent a year. At the same time, international sales jumped by almost 10 percent in 2007.”
“Keys says she didn't know her show had ties to a tobacco company. In response to questions from ABC News, Keys called for an investigation, and Phillip Morris International withdrew its sponsorship,” Martin reports.
Key’s record company, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, released a letter requesting that Philip Morris International stop the branding, according to the Associated Press.
"I am an unyielding advocate for the well-being of children around the world and do not condone or endorse smoking," Keys says in the letter.
Philip Morris International responded with a statement today. "Whether tobacco sponsorship of music events leads to youth smoking is a matter of serious debate. Having considered the facts in this specific instance, we have decided to withdraw all branding associated with this concert,” it reads, according to the Associated Press.
Over 30 percent of Indonesia's 220 million-plus people smoke, making it the fifth-largest tobacco market in the world, according to the World Health Organization and the Associated Press.
Also in recent news, as ABC reports on World News, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged to spend $500 million to cut global smoking.
During a press conference according to ABC, Bloomberg urged, "If we do nothing, tobacco will kill 1 billion people by the end of the century."
(above photo by Margaret Conley: A concert billboard promotion in Jakarta, Indonesia that has since been pulled. “A Mild Live Production” is produced by Sampoerna, the Indonesian subsidiary of Philip Morris)
July 31, 2008 in Margaret Conley | Permalink | User Comments (0)
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