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BURNING BRAIN NEWSLETTER - March 2005 BURNING BRAIN
Dear Members, And finally after over an year of persuasions, a massive public sensitization campaign and hundreds of letters, representations and petitions by Burning Brain Society; ITC Limited, the biggest tobacco company in India, dropped the name and logo of their cigarette brand "Gold Flake" from the greeting cards marketed by them for the children. Burning Brain efforts had earlier resulted in a notice by the Health Ministry asking ITC Limited to withdraw the greeting cards intended to promote their cigarette brand. Now it appears that the new cards and the advertisements no more carry the cigarette logo and brand name though some of the old stocks are still being sold on the sly in the market by the company. BBS has always believed that targeting children for consumption of tobacco products is akin to cold blooded murder of the highest degree. We are happy that our efforts could move thousands of our volunteers and people across the country. The Ministry of Health and the Government of India took some time to react but finally they did what was required. Great. It appears that better sense prevailed on ITC Limited too. Now we hope they will understand that concerned people will not allow them to do surrogate and subliminal publicity of their tobacco products. Some other issues still remain to be addressed. These include the use of same logo by many tobacco companies on their tobacco and non-tobacco products with an intend to promote the brand name/trade mark of their tobacco products. Unethical advertising and boards of tobacco product advertisements bigger than the prescribed sizes on all kinds of shops and establishments (even those which are illegal and even do not sell tobacco products). We are working on these issues too and soon there is going to be another massive sensitization campaign followed by a strong legal action. Your support shall remain as important to us as has always been. Do join us for the next DIRECT ACTION. Thanking you,
Betrayal by Vivek Oberoi: In 2004 Vivek Oberoi, the film actor, got the "World No Tobacco Day Award" for his commitment against tobacco. Vivek was given the WNTD award by WHO in recognition of his stand against tobacco. And what an irony. In 2005 the same man, Vivek Oberoi, accepted an award in the name of a cigarette brand, "Red & White" from a tobacco company promoting the trade name of their cigarette brand under the guise of giving prizes. The award was given to Mr. Vivek for helping victims of Tsunami crisis. No doubt, Vivek did a nice and reasonable thing by helping Tsunami victims but sorry to say he was not the only one neither was he the best one in the effort; then why was he chosen over hundreds of others and bestowed with the tobacco bravery award? The answer is simple and the application of the slightest logic reveals it all.
Vivek Oberoi was projected as a no-tobacco ambassador by certain agencies and was promoted as the representative of the no-tobacco movement. By accepting the Red and White tobacco prize he has diluted the no-tobacco movement and displaced it many steps backward. It is indeed a victory for the tobacco company which has managed to influence or buy the actor and thereby project their prizes in the name of a cigarette brand to be legitimate. The tobacco company at the same time could also manage a sizeable media space and attention because of the profile of Vivek. Mr. Oberoi might also have got some added publicity, ego satisfaction and may be some money too, but this has been at the cost of the anti tobacco movement and such a selfish act by Vivek Oberoi is definitely a great setback for the concerned people and all the anti tobacco workers. Needless to say that it is also a disgrace for the agency which promoted Vivek as a no-tobacco ambassador. The WNTD prize has also lost its sheen with the actions of such non-committal recipients of the WHO awards. Burning Brain Society has earlier filed a Civil Writ Petition (3131 of 2005) in Punjab and Haryana High court. The Hon'ble court has taken note of the offence and issued notice of motion to the Government of India, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and the tobacco company "Godfrey Phillips India Ltd." Burning Brain had stated that such prizes in the name of tobacco products is in clear violation of Section 5 of the "Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003." We are sure that clear cut directions will come soon and these tobacco awards will not survive beyond the year 2005, but they are still able to inflict enough damage before going to the grave. The attention of the Government and serious international agencies to such grave violation is also desperately desired. Will someone responsible act now? As for Mr. Vivek Oberoi, it would be sensible and prudent for him to return the award and express his apologies to everyone who placed trust in his role as a no-tobacco ambassador. Well if he still chooses to be as hypocrite as he appears at present; then he will make himself a perfect candidate for the "Red and Black" shame awards 2005 which are given by Burning Brain Society to highlight the hypocrisies and acts of omission and commission by responsible people and agencies which directly or indirectly results in help to the tobacco lobby whereas they should actually be working against it.
Support Burning Brain Friends, We also conduct workshops/seminars and sensitizing drives for young people, mostly for school and college students. Since about 80% of the tobacco users start by the age of 18 so sensitizing them at the right age can stop them from falling into the "Tobacco Trap" and also creates a positive pressure group in the society against the use of tobacco. All our activities are conducted on "Free of Cost" basis for the youngsters. We do not have any financial support from any quarter so continuing our activities is becoming very difficult. Our cost is upward of Rs. 45/- (US 1$) for every youngster sensitized. For an activity involving 200 students the cost is approximately Rs. 9000/- In case your company/organization would like to support us, you can sponsor our seminars/workshops. You will get all the commercial mileage which you hope to get when you go through an event management company to promote your organization. While your organization benefits by making a contact with youngsters and their family, it will also help your community, society, country and the world to become a better place to live. You can support as many activity as you want, we plan around 100 such drives this year. Help us meet our target. Get in touch at society@burningbrain. org Regards
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