Jorge da Motta

Jorge da Motta has been on the leadership team of Japan Tobacco International (JTI) since 2014.¹
In October 2018, he was appointed JTI’s Regional President Asia Pacific.¹

Background

Da Motta has previously worked for Kimberly Clark and SABMiller.¹

Extensive Career with JTI

Da Motta has worked for JTI since 2005, and has held various leadership positions including:¹

• Regional President of Middle East, Near East, Africa, Turkey and Worldwide Duty Free (2016 –2018)
• Regional President Central Europe (2014-2016)
• General Manager JTI UK (2013 – 2014)
• Regional Sales and Marketing Vice President for the Asia Pacific Region (from 2010 – 2013)
• Head of Sales and Marketing JTI Russia (2007 – 2010)
• General Manager JTI Tanzania (2005-2007)
• Sales and Marketing Director JTI Tanzania (2005)

Criticised the European Tobacco Products Directive

From 2009 to 2014, the European Union (EU) revised its Tobacco Products Directive to strengthen its measures in relation to the manufacture, sale, and presentation of tobacco products. In his role as UK Managing Director, da Motta responded scathingly to measures approved by the European Parliament in October 2013 to help reduce youth smoking in the EU:

“The EU is set to ban 43% of cigarette packs and 64% of RYO Roll Your Own pouches sold in UK shops. It is astonishing that the European Parliament has decided to take forward a policy for tobacco products which will effectively force consumers of these products to ‘supersize’ their tobacco purchases. Increasing the lowest price of a legitimate packet of cigarettes and pack of rolling tobacco above the “illegal street price” also risks tempting many more smokers to buy from criminals who don’t care who their customers are or about the quality of the product that they sell.”²

A few months later, da Motta called the announcement from the EU to ban cigarette packs of 10’s, menthol and smaller pouches of tobacco an “early Christmas present for criminal gangs across the UK.”
Da Motta further claimed that the ban on 10’s and smaller pack sizes of RYO will increase the amount of illegal tobacco being sold by criminals for street price who peddle to anyone, including children.³
The argument that regulation of its product will increase the illicit tobacco trade has been used by the tobacco industry around the world to try undermine the introduction and implementation of various tobacco control policies, including plain packaging. See also:  It will Lead to Increased Smuggling.

Plain Packaging Media Campaign

The UK government held its first public consultation on the introduction of plain packaging in 2012. See also Plain Packaging in the UK.
In April 2013, da Motta announced that JTI UK was to run its third anti-plain packaging media campaign in the hope that “the Government will disregard this proposal, before embarking on a process which will do nothing more than deprive the Treasury of much needed revenue and make hundreds of millions of pounds for the criminals who manufacture, distribute and sell illegal tobacco products.”⁴
JTI’s first anti plain packaging media campaign (costed at £2 million) had been launched in July 2012, and a second campaign had been launched shortly after. Both campaigns had been ruled as being ‘misleading’ by the British Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), who concluded that there was no credible evidence to suggest that illicit tobacco trade was booming or that the UK government was losing out on unpaid taxes.⁵

• For more information on JTI’s media campaign against plain packaging, go to: Plain Packaging in the UK: Tobacco Company Opposition.

TobaccoTactics Resources

• Japan Tobacco International
• Corporate Political Advertising on Plain Packaging
• 2012 Consultation
• Tobacco Company Opposition
• EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision
• SABMiller

Relevant Link

Japan Tobacco International website