Plain Packaging in the UK: Tobacco Industry Funded Research, Expert Opinion and Public Relations

This page was last edited on 04 February 2020, at 22:32.

In response to plain packaging proposals in the UK, the tobacco industry utilised the third party technique. It funded third party organisations which conducted anti-plain packaging campaigns on its behalf, built alliances with organisations that lobbied Government and mobilised public opposition, including and funding research, expert opinions and public relations (PR) activities which supported its position. This page provides details of individuals and organisations that were funded by one or more of the four big transnational tobacco companies to produce reports on salient issues, or conduct PR activities, around plain packaging.
Click on the hyperlinked organisations or individuals for more detailed information about them and their activities.

Tobacco Industry Commissioned Expert Reports

Organisation	Funder	Publication	Cited by
Bird and Bird LLP	PMI	Why plain packaging would violate the United Kingdom’s international obligations under trademark law, September 2011¹	PMI
Professor Martin Cave, London School of Economics	JTI	‘Better regulation’ and certain tobacco control measures, November 2010²	JTI
Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR)	PMI	Quantification of the economic impact of plain packaging for tobacco products in the UK, March 2013³ Quantification of the economic impact of plain packaging for tobacco products in the UK- Addendum to the report for Philip Morris Ltd, Addendum, August 2013⁴	PMI
Professor Peggy Chaudhry, Villanova School of Business and Professor Alan Zimmerman, City University of New York	JTI	The Impact of Plain Packaging on the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, June 2012⁵	JTI
Compass Lexecon	PMI	Summary assessment of Plain Tobacco Packaging: a systematic review Annex 2, May 2012⁶	PMI
Deloitte	BAT, IT, PMI	Alliance of Australian Retailers: Potential impact on retailers from the introduction of plain tobacco packaging, February 2011⁷ Tobacco packaging regulation: An international assessment of the intended and unintended impacts, May 2011⁸ Alliance of Australian Retailers Plain packaging and channel shift, June 2011⁹
Professor Timothy Devinney, University of Technology, Sydney	JTI	Analysis of Consumer Research Evidence on the Impact of Plain Packaging for Tobacco Products, November 2010¹⁰ Analysis of Consumer Research Evidence on the Impact of Plain Packaging for Tobacco Products (Updated to 2012), June 2012¹¹	JTI
Professor Ravi Dhar, Yale University and Professor Stephen Nowlis, Washington University	JTI	Report on the consumer behaviour and decision-making of cigarette smokers, December 2010¹²	JTI
Professor Daniel Gervais, Vanderbilt University	JTI	Analysis of the compatibility of certain tobacco product packaging rules with the TRIPS Agreement and the Paris Convention, November 2010¹³	JTI
Professor James Heckman, University of Chicago	PMI	Report of James J Heckman UK Plain Packaging Consultation Annex 4, August 2012¹⁴	PMI
Lord Hoffman	PMI	Lord Hoffman Opinion, May 2012, ¹⁵	PMI
Keegan & Company LLC	JTI	Analysis of Consumer Survey Evidence Relevant to the UK Department of Health Consultation on the Future of Tobacco Control, September 2008¹⁶ Analysis of consumer survey evidence relevant to the UK Department consultation on the future of tobacco control – Supplemental Report, June 2009¹⁷ Analysis of Consumer Survey Evidence Relevant to DG SANCO’s Proposal to Increase the Size of Health Warnings on Tobacco Packaging, November 2010¹⁸	JTI
Professor Jonathan Klick, University of Pennsylvania and Erasmus University	BAT	Report of Dr Jonathan Klick, June 2012¹⁹	BAT
KPMG	PMI	Project Star 2012 Results, April 2013²⁰ Illicit tobacco in Australia – Half year report, October 2013²¹ Illicit tobacco in Australia – 2013 full year report April 2014²² Illicit tobacco in Australia – 2014 half year report, October 2014²³	PMI
Professor Alfred Kuss, University of Berlin	PMI	Comments concerning Annex 2 “Elicitation of subjective judgements of the impact of smoking of plain packaging policies for tobacco products” of the IA No. 3080 “Standardised packaging for tobacco products”, August 2012²⁴	PMI
Lalive	PMI	Why Plain Packaging is in Violation of WTO Members’ International Obligations under TRIPS and the Paris Convention, July 2009²⁵	PMI
LECG	PMI	A critical review of the literature on generic packaging for cigarettes, November 2008²⁶ The impact of plain packaging of cigarettes in Australia: A simulation exercise, February 2010²⁷ The impact of plain packaging of cigarettes in UK: a simulation exercise, November 2010²⁸	PMI
Dr Andrew Lilico, Europe Economics	JTI	Economic analysis of a display ban and/or a plain packs requirement in the UK, September 2008²⁹ Economic analysis of a plain packs requirement in the UK, June 2012³⁰	BAT, JTI
London Economics	PMI	The role of packaging imagery on consumer preferences for experience goods: A consumer behavioural experiment, January 2012³¹ An analysis of smoking prevalence in Australia, Final, November 2013³²	PMI
Professor Richard Mizerski, University of Western Australia	PMI	Plain Cigarette Packaging as a Remedy to Reduce Smoking, June 2011³³	PMI
Will O’Reilly	PMI	Illicit tobacco trade research, 2011-2016³⁴
Populus	PMI	Cigarette packaging survey, July 2012³⁵ UK Plain Packaging Poll – Petrol Retail Association Members, November 2012³⁶ Law enforcement survey, May 2014³⁷	PMI
Povaddo	PMI	National Association of Retired Police Officers (NARPO) Survey, November 2012³⁸	PMI
PricewaterhouseCoopers	BAT	Illegal tobacco – counting the cost of Australia’s black market, February 2012³⁹	PMI
Roland Berger Strategy Consultants	PMI	The Tobacco Products Directive: Potential economic impact – potential effects of plain packaging, April 2013⁴⁰	PMI
Roy Morgan Research	PMI	Impact of Plain Packaging on Small Retailers: Final Report, January 2013⁴¹ Impact of Plain Packaging on Small Retailers –Wave 2 Final Report, September 2013⁴²	PMI
SKIM Consumer Research	PMI	The impact of standardised packaging on the illicit trade in the UK, August 2012⁴³	PMI⁴⁴
Laurence Steinberg, Temple University Philadelphia	JTI	Adolescent decision making and the prevention of underage smoking, November 2010⁴⁵	JTI
Professor Ernesto Savona and Dr Francesco Calderoni at Transcrime	PMI	Plain packaging and illicit trade in the UK, May 2012⁴⁶	PMI, BAT
Visuality for Rural Shops Alliance	BAT	The effects of standardised tobacco packaging on retail service in the UK, September 2012⁴⁷	PMI⁴⁸

Commissioned Public Relations Activities

Organisation	Funder	Activity
Crosby Textor Group	PMI	Lynton Crosby wrote to the Minister for Intellectual Property on behalf of Philip Morris⁴⁹
DDC Advocacy	PMI	Setting up anti-standardised packaging political marketing website, know-more.co.uk, on behalf of Philip Morris⁵⁰⁵¹
Goddard Global	BAT	Secretariat for The Common Sense Alliance⁵²⁵³⁵⁴
Halogen Communications	PMI	Communications campaign in Scotland against standardised packaging⁵⁵
Luther Pendragon	PMI	Wrote to political leaders and Trading Standards officials on behalf of Philip Morris⁵⁶⁵⁷⁵⁸
Pepper Media	PMI	Communications campaign linking illicit tobacco to standardised packaging⁵⁹⁶⁰
Tribe Marketing Ltd	Forest	Commissioned by Forest to collect signature and postcard contributions for the Hands Off Our Packs campaign in 2012⁶¹
Herbert Smith LLP	BAT	Wrote to the UK Intellectual Property Office on behalf of British American Tobacco⁶²
Powell Gilbert LLP	PMI	Wrote to the UK Intellectual Property Office on behalf of Philip Morris⁶³