But one of the most effective critics of the deal is Professor Richard Peto of Oxford University, who is one of the main authors of the biggest study so far of the dangers of tobacco smoking, published in the British Medical Journal, in which scientists from China, America and Britain interviewed the families of one million people who died between 1986 and 1988.
According to Professor Peto, 'If this merger means more cigarette sales, it'll mean more cigarette deaths because half of all smokers eventually get killed by their habit unless they can manage to quit.' And arguing that BAT and Rothmans provide one-sixth of the world's tobacco
dr dre monster beats, Peto added: 'The cigarettes sold by these two companies are already causing more than half a million deaths a year and 20 years from now they will be causing a million deaths a year worldwide.'
Despite these horrific predictions, the British foreign office and the prime minister's office have overruled the health department's objections to the merger, arguing that the importance of boosting exports overrides the threat to lives in the developing world posed by the merger. New guidelines being drawn up by the foreign office will order British embassies worldwide to help the tobacco companies to corner new markets.
According to British media reports, embassy staff will be told 'they must offer the same legal advice and support to tobacco companies that they give to other British firms' - including information on local markets. Company officials will also continue to accompany ministers on trade missions abroad.
The British government move comes after the publication of statements by the foreign secretary Robin Cook that British foreign policy would be guided by ethical principles. Cook's ethical foreign policy is apparently comfortable with the promotion of mass murder, albeit disguised as business promotion, in the interests of boosting British exports.
The styles prevalent in a culture at any point in time often reflect underlying political and social conditions. The set of agents responsible for creating stylistic alternatives is termed a culture production system. Factors such as the types of people involved in this system and the amount of competition by alternative product forms influence the choices that eventually make their way to the marketplace for consideration by end consumers.
Culture is often described in terms of high (or elite) forms and low (or popular) forms. Products of popular culture tend to follow a cultural formula and contain predictable components. On the other hand, these distinctions are blurring in modern society as imagery from ��high art�� is increasingly being incorporated into marketing efforts.
Reality engineering occurs as elements of popular culture are appropriated by marketers and converted to vehicles for promotional strategies. These elements include sensory and spatial aspects of everyday existence, whether in the form of products appearing in movies, odors pumped in to offices and stores, billboards
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Diffusion of innovation refers to the process whereby a new product, service, or idea spreads through a population. Innovators and early adopters are quick to adopt new products, and laggards are slow. A consumer��s decision to adopt a new product depends on his or her personal characteristics as well as on characteristics of the innovation itself. Products stand a better chance of being adopted if they demand relatively little change in behavior from users
Guest view Cigarette tax could create dangerous atmosphere for smuggling tobacco, are easy to understand, and provide a relative advantage compared to existing products.