Articles

Background Gareth Davis was Chief Executive of Imperial Tobacco from 1996 until May 2010, in a career that spanned 38 years working with the tobacco company.1 In 2016 he was chair of: Wolseley, one of the world’s largest distributor of heating and plumbing products; William Hill, the betting company; DS Smith, a packaging firm. 2 Controversies…

Gardant Communications was a public relations company based in the United Kingdom (UK), which provided lobbying services for Philip Morris UK in 2009, 2010, and 2011.101112 In 2013, it was reportedly rebranded to Meade Hall & Associates.13 Lobbying Against Point of Sale Display Ban In 2009, Gardant Communications secretly collaborated with Tory shadow health…

Gallaher Versus Tlais Enterprises See also: New Gallaher Documents Reveal Extent of Smuggling Activities Ocean Traders Facilitation and “Permitting” of Smuggling Between 2005 and 2008, a bruising legal battle fought by Gallaher exposed its own facilitation of tobacco smuggling. More than 20,000 internal documents were disclosed in the course of litigation between Gallaher…

Background Gallaher was a major UK-based tobacco manufacturer that was bought by Japan Tobacco International (JTI) in 2007.22 PR Company See Vigilant Communication Involvement in Tobacco Smuggling See Imperial and Gallaher Involvement in Tobacco Smuggling and Gallaher versus its Cypriot distributor Affiliations Gallaher/JTI is a member of: Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association23…

FTI Consulting is a large public relations company, headquartered in the United States, with a long history of working with the tobacco industry. Background The company globally employs circa 4600 employees and has offices in 28 countries, including offices in London, Stirling, and Brussels.24 Employees: Past and Present Alex Deane joined FTI consulting in 2014 and is Senior…

Godefridus (‘Frits’) Vranken was Senior Vice President for Business Development and Corporate Communications at Japan Tobacco International (JTI) from 2008 to 2013.4243 JTI is the international business of its parent company Japan Tobacco. Vranken left the tobacco company in 2013.43 Career in the Tobacco Industry Vranken joined the international arm of American…

Background The Freedom2Choose blog argues that it is a “blog supportive of the organisation called Freedom2Choose. Any resemblance to that organisation is purely coincidental.” It adds that “The opinions expressed by the authors on this blog and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of the Freedom2Choose organisation or any member thereof. Freedom2Choose is not…

Freedom2Choose is a smokers’ rights campaign group “set up to oppose smoking bans and expose the myth surrounding second hand smoke”.53 It calls itself “the nation’s leading pro-choice organisation”, though the basis for this claim is unclear.54 Pro-Smoking, Freedom-Loving but ‘Not Pro-Tobacco’ Freedom2Choose says it ‘seeks to protect the informed choices of consenting adults with sensible and achievable…

Background The Franklin News Foundation, (formerly known as Franklin Centre for Government and Public Integrity), was created in 2009, in Alexandria, Virginia (US). The mission of this organisation is described in their website as “To hold government accountable through objective, balanced, citizen-focused public journalism with a taxpayer sensibility”.74 The Franklin News Foundation has over 40 news websites across the…

Founded in 1967 by a number of American business leaders, the Emergency Committee for American Trade aims to “promote economic growth through the expansion of international trade investment”. Originally focused on fighting import restrictions and what was described as “a new worldwide trade war” with Threats of retaliation by foreign countries”, according to the ECAT website the agenda now includes…