Big Country Case Study

Big Country Tobacco Co. Ltd is a large Australian producer of tobacco products including a market-leader brand of cigarettes. With the opening up of China and its move to a market-based economy, the company has made the decision to sell its cigarettes in this large market from the beginning of next month. The cigarettes will be sold in packs of 30.

John Carter, marketing manager, is discussing the design of the cigarette packet for the Chinese market with Harry Wills, the company’s public relations manager. Having agreed upon the basic design of the pack, Harry raised the issue of whether to include the traditional health warning on the pack, which had to be displayed under Australian law. He emphasised recent medical findings which predicted many hundreds of thousands of deaths from cigarette smoking in the next few years, particularly in the developing countries.

John Carter was strongly opposed to the suggestion that a ‘health hazard’ warning be included on the packs destined for the Chinese market. He explained: ‘It is not a legal requirement in China to display a health warning on cigarette packs. If Chinese law is subsequently amended then we will be one of the first to comply. Besides, the managing director supports me on this one.’

Note: Since this case study was written, the law in China has been changed to require health warnings on cigarette packets. However the case study still provides a means of discussing the ethical issues and applying the ECRP