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

This page was last edited on at

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 PMI
Professor Martin Cave, London School of Economics JTI JTI
Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) PMI
PMI
Professor Peggy Chaudhry, Villanova School of Business and Professor Alan Zimmerman, City University of New York JTI JTI
Compass Lexecon PMI PMI
Deloitte BAT, IT, PMI
Professor Timothy Devinney, University of Technology, Sydney JTI JTI
Professor Ravi Dhar, Yale University and Professor Stephen Nowlis, Washington University JTI JTI
Professor Daniel Gervais, Vanderbilt University JTI JTI
Professor James Heckman, University of Chicago PMI PMI
Lord Hoffman PMI PMI
Keegan & Company LLC JTI JTI
Professor Jonathan Klick, University of Pennsylvania and Erasmus University BAT BAT
KPMG PMI PMI
Professor Alfred Kuss, University of Berlin PMI PMI
Lalive PMI PMI
LECG PMI PMI
Dr Andrew Lilico, Europe Economics JTI BAT, JTI
London Economics PMI PMI
Professor Richard Mizerski, University of Western Australia PMI PMI
Will O’Reilly PMI
Populus PMI PMI
Povaddo PMI PMI
PricewaterhouseCoopers BAT PMI
Roland Berger Strategy Consultants PMI PMI
Roy Morgan Research PMI 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 JTI
Professor Ernesto Savona and Dr Francesco Calderoni at Transcrime PMI PMI, BAT
Visuality for Rural Shops Alliance BAT 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

TobaccoTactics Resources

TCRG Research

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

References

  1. ↑Bird and Bird LLP, Why plain packaging would violate the United Kingdom’s international obligations under trademark law, September 2011
  2. ↑M. Cave, ‘Better regulation’ and certain tobacco control measures, November 2010, accessed June 2016
  3. ↑CEBR, Quantification of the economic impact of plain packaging, March 2013, accessed May 2021
  4. ↑CEBR, Quantification of the economic impact of plain packaging for tobacco products in the UK- Addendum to the report for Philip Morris Ltd, Addendum, August 2013, accessed June 2021
  5. ↑P Chaudhry and A Zimmerman, The Impact of Plain Packaging on the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, June 2012, accessed June 2016
  6. ↑Compass Lexecon, “Summary assessment of Plain Tobacco Packaging: a systematic review”, Annex 2, in Philip Morris International, Standardised tobacco packaging will harm public health and cost UK taxpayers billions: A response to the Department of Health consultation on standardised packaging of tobacco products, August 2012[/ref] 
    7. PMI Rupert Darwall PMI

Categories