Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) NZ
British American Tobacco recognised as NZ’s worst corporate citizen
British American Tobacco (BAT) is the worst transnational company in New Zealand after receiving the annual ‘Roger’ Award at a ceremony in Auckland.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) says this confirms that New Zealand is waking up to the sustained public relations campaigns by the tobacco industry.
“New Zealanders are now starting to wonder why they tolerate a company that not only kills 4000 kiwis a year, but takes money away from the country as well,” said ASH director, Ben Youdan.
Organised by the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA), the Roger award is presented to any corporation that is 25 per cent or more foreign controlled and is judged to have the most negative effect on economic matters, people and the environment.
“ASH made this nomination because half of BAT’s best customers will die as a result of smoking their products, so we considered they need to be recognised for this contribution to our society,” said Mr Youdan.
Mr Youdan says that the corporate social responsibility reports that the company produce are designed to convince people that the company is caring and responsible when the opposite is true.
“Cigarettes are the only legal product on the market today that when consumed exactly as this company intends will likely kill you, but they’re unlikely to mention this death toll in their glossy reports” said Mr Youdan.
BAT is actively opposing measures that would see a ban on the display of tobacco in shops where children and former smokers can see them via the New Zealand Association of Convenience Stores (NZACS) of which BAT is a premier member
For further information please contact:
Ben Youdan, director, ASH NZ: 021 733 444
Showing posts with label British American Tobacco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British American Tobacco. Show all posts
2008 Roger Award
Okay - so i'll admit it has been forever and a day since I have udated this blog! My apologies - perhaps updates will coincide with breaks at university - though it is still my intention to update as things come along.
So first thing I need to tell people is the winner of the 2008 Roger Award. To find out more about the Roger Award visit www.cafca.org.nz This years winner was British American Tobacco. A worthy winner that has been nominated every single year. And one I am personally very pleased to see win.
Every year an event is held to announce the winner of the Roger Award. This years event was held in Auckland and featured music from the Electric Car, addresses from Murray Horton and Geoff Bertram (chief judge), as well as a great powerpoint display and presentation from ASH - the anti-smoking lobby group. It was a great night and I don't say so just cos I helped to organise it.
BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO NZ LTD WINS
RIO TINTO ALUMINIUM NZ LTD IS RUNNER UP
BUSINESS NEW ZEALAND WINNER OF ACCOMPLICE AWARD
The full, extremely detailed, Judges’ Report is available at www.cafca.org.nz, follow the Roger Award links.
Finalists: ANZ; BAT (British American Tobacco NZ); Contact Energy; GlaxoSmithKline; Infratil; McDonalds; Rio Tinto Aluminium NZ (nominated under its former name of Comalco); Telecom.
Criteria: the transnational (a corporation which is 25% or more foreign-owned) which is worst in each or all of the following: Economic Dominance - Monopoly, profiteering, tax dodging, cultural imperialism. People - Unemployment, impact on tangata whenua, women, children, abuse of workers/conditions, health and safety of workers and the public, cultural imperialism. Environment - Environmental damage, abuse of animals. Political interference - Cultural imperialism, running an ideological crusade.
Judges: Geoff Bertram, Wellington, a Victoria University economist; Brian Turner, Christchurch, immediate past President of the Methodist Church and social justice activist; Paul Corliss, Christchurch, a life member of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union; Cee Payne, Dunedin, Industrial Services Manager for the NZ Nurses’ Organisation and health issues activist; Christine Dann, Banks Peninsula, a writer and researcher; Bryan Gould, Bay of Plenty, a former Waikato University Vice-Chancellor. The winners were announced at an event in Auckland on March 2.
The Judges’ Statement on BAT says: “Its product kills 5,000 people every year and ruins the lives of tens of thousands. It perennially refuses to take responsibility for the social and economic consequences of its activity, while maintaining a major public relations effort to subvert the efforts of the Government to reduce cigarette consumption”. It is “a conspicuously bad corporate citizen”. The Financial Analysis reveals that BAT NZ’s 2007 profit after tax was a staggering 81% on opening shareholders’ funds, and a questionable borrowing and reinvestment arrangement with other BAT companies outside NZ that allows BAT to reduce its NZ income tax liability by $10 million per year, while hypocritically posturing as a socially responsible corporation.
Rio Tinto Aluminium was runner up because of its “single act of political intimidation”, threatening to close the Bluff smelter if the former Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme went ahead. “Business New Zealand and (CEO) Mr O’Reilly merit an Accomplice Award for their major PR contribution to sustaining the New Zealand government’s spineless record on non-regulation of monopolies and failure to control foreign investments into key sectors of the local economy”.
So first thing I need to tell people is the winner of the 2008 Roger Award. To find out more about the Roger Award visit www.cafca.org.nz This years winner was British American Tobacco. A worthy winner that has been nominated every single year. And one I am personally very pleased to see win.
Every year an event is held to announce the winner of the Roger Award. This years event was held in Auckland and featured music from the Electric Car, addresses from Murray Horton and Geoff Bertram (chief judge), as well as a great powerpoint display and presentation from ASH - the anti-smoking lobby group. It was a great night and I don't say so just cos I helped to organise it.
BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO NZ LTD WINS
RIO TINTO ALUMINIUM NZ LTD IS RUNNER UP
BUSINESS NEW ZEALAND WINNER OF ACCOMPLICE AWARD
The full, extremely detailed, Judges’ Report is available at www.cafca.org.nz, follow the Roger Award links.
Finalists: ANZ; BAT (British American Tobacco NZ); Contact Energy; GlaxoSmithKline; Infratil; McDonalds; Rio Tinto Aluminium NZ (nominated under its former name of Comalco); Telecom.
Criteria: the transnational (a corporation which is 25% or more foreign-owned) which is worst in each or all of the following: Economic Dominance - Monopoly, profiteering, tax dodging, cultural imperialism. People - Unemployment, impact on tangata whenua, women, children, abuse of workers/conditions, health and safety of workers and the public, cultural imperialism. Environment - Environmental damage, abuse of animals. Political interference - Cultural imperialism, running an ideological crusade.
Judges: Geoff Bertram, Wellington, a Victoria University economist; Brian Turner, Christchurch, immediate past President of the Methodist Church and social justice activist; Paul Corliss, Christchurch, a life member of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union; Cee Payne, Dunedin, Industrial Services Manager for the NZ Nurses’ Organisation and health issues activist; Christine Dann, Banks Peninsula, a writer and researcher; Bryan Gould, Bay of Plenty, a former Waikato University Vice-Chancellor. The winners were announced at an event in Auckland on March 2.
The Judges’ Statement on BAT says: “Its product kills 5,000 people every year and ruins the lives of tens of thousands. It perennially refuses to take responsibility for the social and economic consequences of its activity, while maintaining a major public relations effort to subvert the efforts of the Government to reduce cigarette consumption”. It is “a conspicuously bad corporate citizen”. The Financial Analysis reveals that BAT NZ’s 2007 profit after tax was a staggering 81% on opening shareholders’ funds, and a questionable borrowing and reinvestment arrangement with other BAT companies outside NZ that allows BAT to reduce its NZ income tax liability by $10 million per year, while hypocritically posturing as a socially responsible corporation.
Rio Tinto Aluminium was runner up because of its “single act of political intimidation”, threatening to close the Bluff smelter if the former Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme went ahead. “Business New Zealand and (CEO) Mr O’Reilly merit an Accomplice Award for their major PR contribution to sustaining the New Zealand government’s spineless record on non-regulation of monopolies and failure to control foreign investments into key sectors of the local economy”.
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