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....
the brain is not a
vessel to be filled,
It is something to be
IGNITED
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BURNING BRAIN
NEWSLETTER - September 2005
BURNING BRAIN
Newsletter 9, Volume - II
September 2005
It remains surrogate
Dear Friends,
As you are aware Godfrey Phillips recently
renamed its "Red & White Bravery Awards" to "Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award." We
don't feel that this is enough. We would like to share the reasons why we think
so;
Even if the prizes be renamed by dropping the
words “Red & White” and using only the words “Godfrey Phillips” the core issue
still remains and it would still constitute an offence. The word “brand” as
described by the Oxford Dictionary is “an indelible mark or a mark which impress
indelibly on the memory etc.” and the combination of words “brand-name” as
described by oxford dictionary is “brand-name a trade or proprietary name.” By
no stretch of imagination the words “Godfrey Phillips” can be exempt from this
definition. Further points worth considering are;
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The company claims
that “Red and White” is a name of common use. But the words “Godfrey Phillips”
are not. Godfrey Phillips is used exclusively as a registered name of the
respondent company which is manufacturing only tobacco and tobacco being its
major source of revenue. Under such a situation the words Godfrey Phillips,
which are exclusively used by the respondents company in relation to its tobacco
products will clearly relate to its complete range of tobacco products.
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Godfrey Phillips
comes within the definition of a “Trade Mark” too under the Trade Marks Act.
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Since the intention
of the legislation is to ban all sponsorships by tobacco companies so even
renaming the sponsorship will not satisfy the intention of the legislation. It
is known that all the commercial organisations are ultimately working for
profits and are going to calculate the return of every penny spent in terms of
increased sale of their product. Godfrey Phillips is a commercial organisation
with no philanthropic objectives listed in its memorandum so accepting this
contention is beyond rationale and there is no reason or logic to accept and
assume the honesty of intentions of the tobacco company.
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Each pack of the
cigarette manufactured by the company carries the name “Godfrey Phillips” in a
particular manner highlighting it akin a secondary brand name.
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After renaming the
award as ‘Godfrey Phillips” the company just has to write the name Godfrey
Phillips a little more boldly or change its position on the cigarette brand to
make it much more effective so even if the prizes or sponsorship is by the name
of “Godfrey Phillips” the company will still be able to relate it to its tobacco
products and it will still help the company in promotion of its cigarettes and
thereby defeating the provisions and spirit of the Act.
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The provision of the
law and FCTC clearly calls for putting an end to all “Direct and indirect
advertisement” and for prohibiting all kind of sponsorships by the tobacco
companies. Under such a circumstance too allowing any
prize/activity/sponsorship, etc. in the name of “Godfrey Phillips” would be
detrimental.
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On May 31, 2005, vide
G.S.R. 345(E) [copy annexed as P- 20] the Government of India further clarified
the meaning of the word “indirect advertisement,” defining indirect
advertisement as (quoted in bold);
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i. the use of a name or brand of tobacco products
for marketing, promotion or advertising other goods, services and events;
ii. the marketing of tobacco products with the aid of a brand name or trademark
which is known as, or in use as, a name or brand for other goods and service;
iii. the use of particular colours and layout and/or presentation those are
associated with particular tobacco products; and
iv. the use of tobacco products and smoking situations when advertising other
goods and services.”
This further establishes that the use of the
word “Red & White” is an indirect form of advertisement. The presentation of the
award/prizes/sponsored activity under the use of the words Godfrey Phillips
which are used for presenting tobacco products would remain an indirect form of
advertisement.
Yours
Hemant Goswami
Chairperson,
Burning Brain Society
New Project;
Burning Brain Society is
conducting a research study to understand the role of movies in promotion of
tobacco products. for this we are also evaluating the use of tobacco products in
movies. We are in need of volunteers who can watch the recent movies and provide
us with some basic but accurate information. You can volunteer in a project to
understand the role of movies in promoting tobacco. You can provide us with information on any
number of movies you or your group can comfortably watch.
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How to become a volunteer on the
project:
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Fill the volunteer registration form at
http://www.burningbrain.org/how_to_join.htm
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Watch as many movies as possible (Released in 2004 &
2005). You can also ask for a specific list of movies. You shall be provided a 5
movies list however you can ask up to a 10 movies list. You can also ask for a
latest list of movies already researched and can also be checked at
http://burningbrain.org/researchresult.htm at regular intervals.
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As soon as you watch a movie, fill up the form on
this page and provide us with up to date information on the movie and how it
depicts tobacco. For your reference the submission link is
http://burningbrain.org/researchmovies.htm
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An up to 200 words summary is required which should
mention about the actors using the tobacco, the scenes of tobacco use and if
there was any relevance. Other details too may be provided.
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You can earn an appreciation certificate and the
best volunteers may also earn reward money .
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All volunteers participating in the project are requested to fill the form
with care and accuracy. Please do not forget to write a brief
summary of about 200 word about the smoking situations and tobacco use in movie
in the last part of the form. It is very
important.
The research report shall mention the name and contribution of each
and every volunteer who participated in the project and provided accurate
information. All those volunteers
working dedicatedly on the project for sufficient duration shall also be
provided with appreciation certificates.
Form for
providing the details about the movie you researched
Download a free e-book:
Burning Brain released an e-book containing;
* Some basic facts about tobacco.
* Tips on quitting tobacco.
* Complete anti tobacco law with fully updated rules.
You can download
your copy from http://www.burnigbrain.org/pdf/tobaccomenace.pdf
ACTIVITY:
Come Participate:
Participate in "Burning Brain on the spot painting
competition 2005"
Fill in the participation form below for
registration of
"Burning Brain on the spot painting competition"
to be held on
Oct. 7, 2005
at
Government Museum & Art Gallery Compound. The competition shall start by
09:15 a.m.
The topics shall be declared on the spot. Participants
shall be provided with drawing sheets and they are required to
bring their own drawing material. There is a participation fee of Rs. 10/- per
participant and the pre-registered participants can pay the same in the society office
(Glass Office 3, Business Arcade, Shivalikview, Sector 17-E, Chandigarh )
or at the venue by 09:00 a.m. on the day of competition. You can either fill the
form on this page or download the
participation form from
http://www.burningbrain.org/pdf/participation_form.pdf and bring along at
the venue for spot registration.
There are 5
participating groups. Group A is for youngsters up to 7 Yrs. of age (who have
not reached their 8th birthday), Group B is for students in the age group of 8
to 11 years (Below 12 years), Group C for 12 to 15 Years, Group D for 16 to 19
Year olds (Below 20 years) and Group E for participants above 20 years.
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Came and also enjoy a day with Dinosaurs |
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shall be provided a free guided tour to the Dinosaurs Museum. Youngsters can
also watch the movie "Walking with Dinosaurs" after the painting
competition. Don't miss your date with Dinosaurs. |
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(Students of Government schools participating through their schools; students
belonging to under privileged segment of the society, availing concession in
their schools and participating through their schools; physically or mentally
challenged participants; students who have volunteered for BBS and acquired 40
points and regular annual members of BBS are exempted from paying any
participation fee.)
Media
Partner:
CALL FOR SUPPORT:
Support Burning Brain
Friends,
You can support us in a number of ways. You can
join the crusade, provide financial resources, contribute in cash or kind,
donate resources, volunteer and be a contributing person.
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Since we are not
supported by any grant or donation programme so we have to generate our own
resources or work from activity-to-activity basis leaving no cushion for us. You
can contribute financial resources to Burning Brain Society. All the
contributions made to Burning Brain Society are
eligible for income tax deduction under Section 80G
of the Income Tax.
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You can also
contribute in kind. We require a lot of articles, equipments and tolls for
our activities, you can donate some of the things not in use but otherwise in
good working condition in your office to BBS. May be your old laptop, desktop,
LCD projector, office furniture, vehicle, etc. can be used in our projects.
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If you are planning an
activity for youngsters may be you can use our services for reaching out instead
of going through an event management company. Many of activities which we
undertake can be used to create awareness about your otherwise benevolent
commercial products. You can sponsor some of our activities which serve
our mutual interest.
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Buy donor articles
like books, cards and other things offered by BBS.
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Become a volunteer
and participate in BBS projects.
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You can send your
payments/drafts/cheques and other contributions in favour of Burning Brain
Society, payable at Chandigarh and addressed to:
Burning Brain Society
Glass Office 3, Business Arcade, Shivalikview, Sector 17-E, Chandigarh 160 017
INDIA
You can also make transfers to BBS bank account (with an intimation at the above
mentioned address), our bank details are;
Bank:
State Bank of India, Main Branch, Sector 17, Chandigarh 160 017
Bank Account Number:
01100141658
If you are keen to know how the funds are being utilized, we shall
be more than happy to share our account details with you. We
believe in 100% transparency.
Regards
H.G.
New campaigns and initiatives:
September 17, 2005
"We care for you" cards released by BBS
Burning Brain Society (BBS) today released a set of
greeting cards for tobacco users. The cards are called “We care for you” cards
and are intended to be used by near and dear ones of tobacco users requesting
them to quit tobacco. The cards have been released in three designs and use the
pictures of prize winning posters made by youngsters. While one of the card show
a Yamdoot lighting a cigarette stick for a person and holding an invitation to
Yamlok in his hand, another card shows the reduced life span proportional to the
length of the burnt cigarette.
These donor cards shall be available through the volunteers of the society or
through ebay.in online shopping portal.
Mr. Hemant Goswami, chairperson of BBS while releasing the cards said that these
cards are expected to be very helpful in asking people we care about to quit
tobacco. Since at any time, over 70 percent of tobacco users want to quit so if
these people are persistently asked to quit tobacco and provided with a support
system, at least half of them are likely to quit. A pressure created by a person
close to a tobacco user can produce encouraging results.
The negative role of the state governments and Chandigarh administration was
also highlighted by the executive members of BBS. It was revealed that though
the Chandigarh administration and the Punjab government had notified the anti
smoking act but still they had not booked a single person under the act. The
Haryana government is a step ahead in its disregard as it has not even notified
the officials to act under the Cigarette and other tobacco products act 2003
informed Hemant. He further said that the civil society organizations can just
create awareness and provide support to the government but they can not do the
duty of the government. The law does not permit the administrative officials to
choose between enforcing a law or not, they are duty bound to enforce all the
provisions; the officials who are not following the letter of the law are
committing an offence of deliberately omitting to perform their duty and this is
a criminal offence under the IPC for which BBS shall shortly approach the lawful
authorities, Mr. Goswami said.
These are donor cards. 3 packs of
10 cards each (30 cards) are available for Rs. 300/- (Plus courier charges of Rs.
50/-). Please send your request for the cards to the below mentioned address
with a demand draft in the name of "Burning Brain Society" payable at Chandigarh.
If not a member JOIN NOW
Link at
http://www.burningbrain.org/joinBBS.htm
Fill in the form below, you will hear from us soon
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