The Tobacco Products Control Act 1992

In this act sections relevant to advertising and promotion bans are as follows:

Section 3 :
"Advertising" means an act undertaken by any means to allow the public to see, hear, or know the statement for commercial interest;

Section 4 : No person shall be allowed to dispose of, sell, exchange or give the tobacco products to a person whom is known to the former that the buyer or receiver does not attain eighteen full years of age;

Section 5 : No person shall be allowed to sell the tobacco products by vending machines;

Section 6 : No person shall be allowed to do any of the following acts:
    (1) To sell goods or render services with the distribution, addition, gift of tobacco products or exchange with the tobacco products as the case may be,
    (2) To sell the tobacco products with the distribution, addition, gift of or exchange with other goods or services,
    (3) To give or offer the right to attend the games, shows, services or any other benefit as a consideration to the buyer of tobacco products or a person bringing the package of tobacco products for exchange or redemption therefor;

Section 7 : No person shall be allowed to distribute the tobacco products as a sample of the tobacco products so as to proliferate such tobacco products or to pursuade the public to consume such tobacco products except for a customary gift;

Section 8 : No person shall be allowed to advertise the tobacco products or exposing the name or mark of the tobacco products in the printed matters, via radio broadcast, radio, television or any other advertiseable thing or to use the name or mark of the tobacco products in the shows, games, services or any other activity the objective of which is to let the public to understand that the name or mark belongs to the tobacco products.
     The provisions of paragraph one does not apply to the live broadcast from abroad via radio or television and the advertisement of the tobacco products in the printed matters printed outside the Kingdom without the objective to dispose of specifically in the Kingdom;

Section 9 : No person shall be allowed to advertise the goods using the name or mark of the tobacco products as a mark of such goods in such a manner as to make such a mark to be understood as that of the tobacco products;

Section 10 : No person shall be allowed to manufacture, import for sale or general distribution or advertise any other goods having such an appearance as to be understood as an imitation of such tobacco products as cigarettes or cigars under the law on tobacco or of the package of the said products;

Section 17 : Any person violating Section 4 or Section 5 shall be subject to an imprisonment not exceeding one month or a fine not exceeding two thousand baht or both;

Section 18 : Any person violating Section 6, Section 7, Section 9 or Section 10 shall be subject to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand baht;

Section 19 : Any person violating Section 8 paragraph one shall be subject to a fine not exceeding  two hundred thousand baht;

Section 24 : In case where the violation of Section 4, Section 5, Section 6, Section 8 paragraph one, Section 9, Section 10 or Section 13 is the manufacturer or importer, the violator shall be subject to the penalty twice that provided for such offenses.

The Tobacco Products Control Act 1992 has a very comprehensive ban on advertising and promotion. It can be summarised that:

the ban covers all media (section 3, 8);
the ban is an almost complete one, including sponsorship. Although there is no such term as
     'sponsorship' the definition of 'advertising' means that showing cigarette logos is illegal. Therefore
     sponsorship, which must show logos, is considered an illegal act (Section 8);
the only exceptions are live radio or television broadcast from abroad and advertisement in printed
     matters published outside the Kingdom (Section 8);
The bans covers all indirect advertising, i.e.;

• Point - of - sale (POS) advertising can not be done although the law does not specify POS but has '…or any other advertiseable thing…' in Section 8,
• Product placement (Section 3, 8),
• Trademark diversification (TMD) in Section 9,
• Advertising goods that have such an appearance as to be understood as an imitation of such tobacco products or of the package of the said products (Section 10), and
• Sponsorship (Section 3, 8);

• Prohibition of sale to minors (Section 4),
• Prohibition of sale through vending machines (Section 5), and
• Prohibition of exchanges, free premiums, redemption, giveaways, etc. (Section 6, 7).

10 February 1989 - 3 August 1992: PROHIBITION UNDER THE CONSUMERS
PROTECTION ACT 1979

Because the CPB was not knowledgeable in the tobacco industry tactics the secretary of the National Committee for Control of Tobacco Use (TCCTU) was the person who monitored the violations and notified the CPB which prosecuted the cases accordingly. The violations included:

Direct advertising
- installing big outdoor billboards advertising cigarettes Winston, Kent, Salem; billboards in the international airport and its tax-free shops;
- painting of logo ‘Mild Seven’ on the bodies of cigarette delivery vans;
- launching of new cigarette brands ‘Waves’ of Japan Tobacco Inc,, with giveaways, exchanges, etc.

POS:
- placing numerous empty cartons in front of the shops,
- placing big dispensers, displaying big logos, and
- suspending mobiles (imitating cigarette packages).

Product placements:
- wearing t-shirt exhibiting 'lucky strike' in a TV drama,
- publishing pictures with cigarette logos in magazines, calendars, advertising other products in newspapers, yearbook, etc., and
- printing cigarette brand names on clothes, postcards.

TMD:
- advertising 'Marlboro Country Tour' in the television,
- setting up billboard 'Winston - Style of the USA' across a street,
- advertising in the newspapers ' Kent Leisure Holidays, '555 The Statesman Collection', and 'Camel Boots'.

Sport sponsorship;
- Football  : '555 Football Special ' telecast,
- Snooker  : telecast of '555 Asian Snooker Open' and '555 World Series Challenge,'
- Golf  : a small billboard ‘Salem’ at the venue of 'Singha Beer Pro-Am Tournament',
- Cricket  : a small billboard at the venue of 'Benson & Hedges Cricket International',
- Motorcycling : a 'Lucky Strike - Suzuki' team competed in a racing circuit.

4 August 1992 - present : PROHIBITION UNDER THE TOBACCO PRODUCTS CONTROL ACT 1992

The minister of public health appointed officials of the MOPH, Ministry of Interior, Municipalities, Excise Department, and Custom Department to be responsible for the enforcement of this law. Approximately 3000-4000 officials were appointed on 25 August 1992 and again on 9 June 1993.

Appointed officials from the Institute of Tobacco Consumption Control (ITCC) of the Department of Medical Services (DMS) are supposed to be the core of implementers.

There have been no official report of violations recorded by the ITCC. The Thailand Health Promotion on Institute (THPI) has been the only organisation that has compiled violation practices. They included:

Direct advertising;
- advertising cigarettes in the THAI airline's duty free price list, inflight magazine 'Swasdee', and
- advertising cigars, mostly in the form of pictorial essays, in newspapers and magazines.

POS;
- color pictures of cowboys, camel, 'get lucky', installed on the top of cigarette cabinets, and
- having big plates of prices and price reduction.

Product placement ;
- wearing clothes with cigarette logo in TV spots,
- smoking by main characters in TV shows, and
- displaying tobacco brandnames in calendars, advertisement of other products in newspapers, pictures in magazines, sport news in newspapers, etc.

TMD;
- advertising 'Winston House' and 'Camel Trophy Adventure Wear' in the newspapers,
- advertising 'Camel Trophy Adventure Wear' and 'Marlboro Classics' by posters installed in outlets and in other media at different occasions.

Sport Sponsorship;
- Asia - Pacific Rally participated by '555 Subaru',
- publicity of a visit by Mild Seven F1 driver - Michael Schumacher who dressed in racing suit, followed by '95 Formula -1 Festival' at a department store, and
- a THPI research found that a cable TV in one year (1998 - 1999) aired 1,343 hours of tobacco - sponsored sports, consisting of 99 live legal telecasts and 1,698 re -runs which were illegal.

Other promotions:
- The tax-free shops at the International Airport had a promotion program - buying goods 1,000 baht would be entitled to get 100 bath free for other goods, including cigarettes.
 
 

During the first period (10 February 1989 - 3 August 1992) when advertising ban was under the Consumer Protection Act 1979 the intervention was relatively successful. All cases notified to the CPB by the secretary of the NCCTU were investigated and fined.

After 4 August 1992 the MOPH became responsible for the newly-enacted Tobacco Products Control Act 1992 and law enforcement has become very week. The THPI has been the main monitoring force and provided numerous notifications to the ITCC. Most of these were not dealt with efficiently. In a few cases , however, suppression of the tobacco industry's promotional activities were successful due to THPI's vigilance and strong media advocacy.
 
 

Success Story 1 Thailand Olympic Committee's attempt to adopt tobacco sponsorship of sport was defeated

In October 1990 the secretary of the Olympic Committee of Thailand (OCT) gave a press interview that the OCT would consider accepting transnational tobacco company sponsorship of sport and the OCT would push for amendment of the law banning cigarette advertising. On 21 October the secretary of NCCTU gave the press interview opposing the proposal. This was followed by streams of news, column notes, articles supporting and opposing the planned sponsorship. From October 1990 to March 1991-there were 20 news and 24 articles favouring the sponsorship ; 18 news and 15 articles opposing ; and 9 news, I cartoon, and 7 articles expressing neutral stance. The pro-sponsorship group included the secretary and treasurer of the OCT, a former deputy public health minister, and the whole group of sport columnists. The opposition consisted of the secretary of the NCCTU, the secretary of No-Smoking Campaign Project, the public health minister, the Privy Councillor, and a group of columnists. After the long continuous 5 month debate the pro-sponsorship group gave up.

 

Success Story 2 Thailand was the only country that Subaru-555 could not be displayed  in the Asia-Pacific Rally

1993 was the first year the 'Asia-Pacific Rally' was held in 6 countries,i.e., Indonesia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong-Beijing, and Thailand. After the race, THPI and its grass root allies gave the press interview that exhibiting Subaru-555 was illegal. The MOPH followed up with letter of protest to the organizer. The planned domestic rallies – 4 races in 1993 -  were scrapped. From 1994 on the 'Subaru 555' was changed to 'Subaru ///' when the rallies were held in Thailand.

 

Success Story 3 Thailand is the only country in the Asian golf circuit that Davidoff logos are not displayed

The Asian Professional Golf Association (Asian PGA) had the watch Omega as its main regional sponsor until 1999 when Davidoff became its new sponsor. Annually Its ' Davidoff Tours' were held 20 times in 11 countries. In Thailand there were 2 tournaments - The Lexus International during 14-17 October 1999 and The Thailand Open during 1-4 December. Both local organizers were given instruction by the THPI president that displaying Davidoff logos was illegal. The Lexus tournament did not heed the warning and the THPI president led the ITCC staff to make an arrest and the organizer was prosecuted. Since then all Davidoff Asian PGA tours held in Thailand did not dare to exhibit Davidoff brandname again and Thailand is the only country to have Davidoff logo-less competitions.

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