"We are in the cigarette business. We are not in the sports business. We use sports as an avenue for advertising our products." Tobacco Industry Executive (at RJR)

Using tennis to sell death

Why this site and who we are

This site is has been created and is maintained by OxyRomandie, a Swiss association involved in smoking prevention and tobacco control. OxyRomandie models its actions on the articles of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the related directives.

OxyRomandie is very concerned with the way the tobacco industry uses Switzerland as a sanctuary from where it can safely plan and direct its worldwide operations, targeting in particular low income countries. Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco International and Japan Tobacco International are all established in Switzerland. Imperial Tobacco uses the Swiss Oettinger Davidoff group for the management of its strategic international cigarette brand, Davidoff. Tobacco companies take advantage of the relatively small size of Switzerland and of its highly decentralized political system: their enormous financial power allow them to exercise pressure on local politicians and influence their decisions, often brandishing the specter of massive loss of jobs by threatening to move their offices, "research" facilities and factories out of Switzerland.

The tobacco companies clearly benefit from Switzerland's weak and fragmented legislation in the area of public health, and in particular in tobacco control. They also like the Swiss culture of secrecy, inherited from the banking sector - they believe that there is virtually no risk in Switzerland that they may one day be asked to publicly release their internal documents, in contrast to what happened to them in the United States. Finally the Swiss political and legal environment over-protects economic interests when in conflict with public interest. All these factors make the country a judicial haven for the tobacco transnationals, in addition to being a tax haven.

Given such context, it is not surprising therefore that the last tennis tournament in the world that is still sponsored by the tobacco industry should take place in tobacco-friendly Switzerland. This tournament, the Davidoff Swiss Indoors, is part of a larger scheme which uses Switzerland as a platform for the international promotion of the Davidoff tobacco brand (the strategic brand of Imperial Tobacco Group PLC), using various below the line techniques, of which sport sponsorship is one, together with a very sophisticated trademark diversification programme, involving the use of the Davidoff brand name for luxury items (watches, leather goods, pens, fragrances, coffee).

OxyRomandie, being a Swiss organization dedicated to tobacco control, feels a responsibility of exposing and denouncing such a plot. Although Switzerland has not ratified the WHO FCTC, the country has signed the treaty and the government has declared its intention of ratifying it in the coming years. According to the provision of the FCTC, sport sponsorship and trademark diversification programme by the tobacco industry are illegal activities. Such activities are therefore not just morally objectionable, they are against the law in most countries of the world. Switzerland, in this respect, is an anomaly, that needs to be corrected as quickly as possible. The more rapidly the Swiss people realize it, the less painful the remedy will be.

OxyRomandie is a member of the Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco Control.