Tobacco.org

• No smoke without fire for Dunhill sponsors 

the hoardings at St Andrews carried only the word Dunhill. Did that not leave open the possibility of some confusion between a company selling pricey lighters and another one selling a product that kills thousands of smokers in this country every year? . . . Having established the typographical and corporate chasm that separates Alfred Dunhill Ltd from the cigarette brand you might think that would be an end to the confusion. But dig a little deeper and it quickly becomes clear the divide is not so clear after all.

Alfred Dunhill Ltd is owned by a Swiss-based company called Richemont, which also owns a range of other luxury goods companies including Cartier and Mont Blanc. . . .

So what took place at St Andrews last week was not a golf tournament sponsored by a cigarette company but one sponsored by a company selling lighters to smokers, which is owned and heavily cross-subsidised by another company which makes most of its profit from tobacco sales. Confused? Maureen Moore, the chief executive of the anti-smoking group ASH Scotland, is not. "No laws have been broken but what you have here is a classic case of brand stretching. It is not against the law, but it is certainly against the spirit of the law, and the European Tour should do itself a favour and end Dunhill's sponsorship of this event as soon as possible."

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