June
1997 - Smoking out the Sponsors
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Since 1994, GM has targetted tobacco companies sponsoring cultural events. In particular, we have focused our actions on du Maurier's Vancouver Jazz Festival. In 1997, GM was able to expand its attack on du Maurier by working with groups in Toronto and Montreal.
The
Montreal Jazz Festival's
feline mascot got a
tobacco-friendly image make-over
from the Health Ayatollahs.
THE ACTION: With the help of a dozen activists, GM kicked off the anti-tobacco corporation festivities in Vancouver by postering 3,000 “Children As Seen By” posters in core city neighbourhoods. The "Children As Seen By" posters were a revised version of GM's 1995 anti-du Maurier materials that satirized the tobacco company's famous "Jazz As Seen By" campaign.
A few days after GM's action, members of Toronto's Artificial Intelligence Media (AIM) joined in the du Maurier-bashing. AIM's members plastered areas near Toronto jazz festival venues with 2,000 copies of the same poster. As well, TO activists altered du Maurier billboards and bus shelter ads, changing them from "Jazz As Seen By" to "Cancer As Seen By."
Then, a week later, the Montreal's Health Ayatollahs (HA) got into the action. To mark the start of their city's jazz festival, they distributed 3,000 copies of a French-language version of another GM anti-tobacco poster – "Les Profits Vus Par" or "Profits As Seen By"
– featuring a picture of a graveyard with a list of Quebec statistics about deaths due to tobacco illnesses. As well, GM and the HA collaborated to produce 10,000 copies of a parody festival brochure that was distributed to festival-goers.
STRATEGY: Because GM and AIM had previously mounted anti-du Maurier campaigns together in their respective cities in 1996, reviving media interest in the issue or the satirical message would likely prove difficult. We were simply maintaining opposition to tobacco sponsorship in those cities. From GM's perspective, it was Montreal that would likely get the most media attention. Unlike BC or even Ontario, Quebec’s mainstream media and government have historically been hostile towards anti-tobacco efforts. As well, Montreal is du Maurier's hometown – taking the tobacco-giant on in its own backyard was an opportunity not to be missed. The stage was set for conflict.
MEDIA: In Vancouver, aside from two city weeklies, GM was ignored by news outlets. Toronto activists were unable to carry out the necessary media outreach the actions require, resulting in zero media coverage. In contrast, superb media handling combined with a series of public relations gaffs by du Maurier, conspired to give the HA a major media and public awareness hit in Quebec. Because the festival organizers used security and Montreal police to evict protesters from public property, the HA had a media circus to contend with from day one. All major Montreal dailies, weeklies and electronic outlets made the festival's attempt to censor its critics a top news story. As a result, every time the HA went back to festival venues on public property to challenge this ban, the media debated the conflict. Even the Dean of Law at the University of Montreal waded into the debate on the HA's behalf and argued about the violation of Charter rights. As a result of the HA's considerable efforts, along with the work of other anti-tobacco lobby groups in the province, the Quebec media coined the phrase "the summer of tobacco protest."
WRAP-UP: By the end of 1998, tobacco sponsorship is supposed to come to an end. However, federal Health Minister Allan Rock is already caving in to pressures from the industry, and is invoking exceptions to the law for some cultural events. GM would like to produce an anti-tobacco campaign in 1998, but project funding and organizational time must be found.
This year, the anti-du Maurier campaign did receive substantial funding to cover the material costs of producing the posters and brochures, but this money came in at the last possible moment, making planning difficult. We believe that good satire, high-end production values and mass distribution of anti-tobacco marketing materials, combined with ongoing media-relations work during du Maurier's jazz festival period, will produce excellent results.