Brazilian atheists have a message for Indonesia

"If god exists, everything is permitted"

This powerful advertisement commissioned by a Brazilian atheist group sums up, in one slogan, what is happening with religious bigotry, persecution and violence against the Ahmadiyah community in Indonesia at the moment.

Last month a court gave sentences of 3-6 months’ jail to 12 Sunni Muslim thugs who led a lynch mob of around 1,500 armed extremists against about 20 members of the Ahmadiyah sect, who are Muslims in every sense of the word except they don’t believe Mohammed was the final prophet. In the eyes of the Indonesian courts, this means you can kill them in front of police and receive less punishment than you would for stealing someone’s buffalo or making a naughty video of yourself with your girlfriend.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa put his Cambridge masters degree in philosophy to good use on Friday, cynically inverting logic and ethics in justification of the sentences. He said the judiciary’s independence could not be questioned (ignoring that laws such as prohibitions against murder are created by parliament to be enforced) and noted that Indonesia was not the only country to experience “heinous” acts as a result of religious intolerance (ignoring the fact that heinous acts which go unpunished are likely to be repeated).

Cranberries etc peddle tobacco to Indonesian kids

Delores O'Riordan of the Cranberries giving a peace sign - or is she asking her fans for a smoke?

It’s that time of year again. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was ranting and raving against the likes of Wolfmother and Chris Carrabba for accepting tobacco sponsorship to play in Indonesia. Well, another crop of muso sell-outs led by the Cranberries (that’s what’s-her-face pictured left) are lining up like dirty little piggies at the tobacco-money trough to play at the Java Rockin’ Land music festival from July 22 to 24.

In other words, they’re telling Indonesian kids it’s cool and sophisticated and very, very sexy to smoke. Nice one, creeps.

Here’s a message from a kind reader, Marita Hefler, drawing my attention to the event and a petition against the show’s tobacco sponsorship. Marita writes:

Hi there, great writing – love your posts about the tobacco industry in Indonesia. Java Rockin’ Land is happening again 22-24 July, with Gudang Garam the main sponsor. There is a petition urging all the bands involved to demand the sponsorship be dumped, see: http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-international-bands-to-drop-tobacco-sponsorship-in-indonesia. So far, no artist has responded. Yet again, double standards prevail in the lineup: the Good Charlotte frontman is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and he and his brother have their own children’s foundation; 30 Seconds to Mars are active in environmental causes, and lead singer Jared Leto support Elysium, a charity to support critically ill children; Neon Trees have said they don’t want to be part of tobacco sponsorship and have played at an anti-smoking gig; Ed Kowalczyk is a World Vision rep. Blood Red Shoes have supported a cancer charity, and The Cranberries are well-known for speaking out about political issues. Apparently international bands just dump their principles in a bin before they board a plane to Jakarta. Disgraceful.

To these musicians I say: Do the right thing. Follow the example of Alicia Keys or Kelly Clarkson, and demand the tobacco companies cancel their sponsorship of the event. Failing this, cancel your shows. That’s the only way you can salvage your credibility in the eyes of people who care about kids in countries like Indonesia, where they are the explicit targets of an aggressive and foul Big Tobacco marketing campaign the likes of which the West has not seen in decades (because it was made illegal). By playing at this event you are being used by tobacco companies to create young nicotine addicts in a way that would be unacceptable and illegal in your home countries.

Acceptance of the tobacco money means you are either desperate for cash, or so greedy that you don’t give a damn about your young fans. Or both. Oink oink!

(Photo courtesy of Joe Crimmings Photography)

Tobacco ad of the day: miracle electro-smokes!

On world No Tobacco Day, your featured cigarette ad from times past and, in Indonesia, present:

I’m not sure if you can read the newspaper “article”. It says:

Scientific miracles never cease!… Now see what modern electronics has done to increase your cigarette enjoyment! With electronic accuracy, Accu Ray checks and controls the making of your Chesterfield. For the first time you get a perfect [even smoke] from end-to-end. You’ll marvel at the extra flavour that comes through. Yet because this measurably better cigarette smokes more slowly – you enjoy a cool mildness never possible before. From first puff to last, Chesterfield gives you a smoke measurably smoother… cooler… best for you! In the whole wide world, no cigarette satisfies like a Chesterfield!

Looks like they also boost eyebrow growth (obviously tastes have changes in that department over the years … ).

Those of us from developed countries might laugh and recognise this as the old game Big Tobacco played on us for years – dressing up toxic cigarettes in pseudo-science and technology and selling them as healthy, life-enhancing products.

In developing countries like Indonesia – the new front line for international efforts to reduce death and disease from smoking – it’s not funny. Cigarette advertising is ubiquitous and The Jakarta Post, the country’s oldest English-language broadsheet newspaper, has repeatedly published uncritical articles in its editorial pages about how local scientists are using advances in nantotechnology to make “divine cigarettes” that are not only healthy, they can treat cancer. Even Chesterfield didn’t go that far.

(For more old tobacco ads, see Stanford School of Medicine’s great gallery)

Crass ad of the day: pizza for refugees!

We probably shouldn’t blame Pizza Hut for this, but check out the unfortunate placement of their advertisement in this Gulf newspaper below.

The story is about refugees pouring out of Libya and begging for food at the Egyptian border. The excellent news photo shows refugees reaching for scraps of bread through the razor wire. It’s an effective front page … except for the scowl-inducing contribution from the advertising department.  A special offer of four extra thick pan pizzas placed in such a way that the refugee almost looks like he’s reaching for a slice. Oh dear. Guess it’s a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing in this particular newsroom.

Tobacco ad of the day: smoking as slimmer!

You'll be even slimmer when you're dead

This one goes out to all those women in developing countries who think smoking is a status symbol. Smoking won’t empower you; it will just make you stink and look stupid.

(For more old tobacco ads like this see the Stanford Medical School)

Tobacco ad of the day: smoking as medicine!

Today’s darkly amusing tobacco ad goes out to none other than our favourite “doctor” Greta Zahar, she of “divine cigarette” fame. The esteemed Indonesian “healer” has thoroughly demolished my criticism of her methods, so all I can do is refer you to her website and let you inhale her in her own inimitable words.

Here’s a little sample:

The cigarette advertisement (health warnings) on cigarette boxes is part of the “Nicotine War” program. It is indeed strange that our fathers who were heavy smokers who had many children were obviously not impotent, and we have not heard anybody having lung cancer in their villages, while those who suffer lung cancer are those who have money and amalgam fillings in their teeth.

That’s actually one of the more coherent passages in what is a truly mystifying website. As Craig Brown wrote of the challenge for the parodist who attempts to mock Germaine Greer, Zahar “leaves no room for improvement: it’s perfect as it is”.

PS: The Sydney Morning Herald’s Tom Allard wrote a nice piece about Indonesia’s tobacco habit earlier this month, mentioning Zahar’s invention.

Tobacco ad of the day: the kids are not alright

This one goes out to all the bands that are playing at the Java Rockin’Land festival from Friday to Sunday in Jakarta, Indonesia. They’re all a bunch of monkeys doing tricks for the man from the tobacco company for scraps of pretty green. Totally uncool.

This American tobacco ad from the 1950s is targeting teenagers. These days it would be illegal, because of what we now know about the connection between tobacco marketing, addiction, disease and death.

But Indonesia might as well be back in the 1950s. In fact, it is subject to a bigger and bolder tobacco company campaign to create teenage cigarette addicts, and the bands playing this weekend are complicit up to their greedy necks.

A special mention must go to Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional, who a little more than two months ago played a benefit show before an audience of cancer survivors to raise money for cancer care. I guess Big Tobacco just made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Special mention should also go to the promoters, who argue that they are not forcing teenagers to light up. Smoking is a choice, they say. Yes it is, an extremely bad choice which responsible adults should not be promoting as cool or glamorous or masculine or rebellious or anything else but stupid and dangerous.

The bands who are playing this gig are puppets, nothing more. If they ever claimed to have any artistic integrity they are sell-outs of the lowest kind.

And the officials who allow Big Tobacco to run riot in Indonesia are even worse.

This is what Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary-general of the Jakarta-based Association of Southeast Asian Nations  (ASEAN), said this week at a conference on smoking in Asia:

I think the people must be informed that their health is being compromised by some of these public officials who are puppets of a campaign of persuasion. And the irony is these people know better, they don’t smoke, the entire family doesn’t smoke. They become the tools and the partners of strategies almost willingly and that is something that has to be corrected, but it is an uphill struggle.

Tools, puppets, monkeys … whichever way you cut it this song remains the same.

Here is a list of the Big Tobacco stooges who are scheduled to play at the pro-smoking Java Rockin’Land: ARKARNA, DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL, DATAROCK, DI-RECT, GALAXY 7, LIVING THINGS, MUTEMATH, NOT CALLED JINX, SOCIAL CODE, STEREOPHONICS, STEVE FISTER, Stryper, THE SMASHING PUMPKINS, THE VINES, WOLFMOTHER (plus a host of local acts).

(For more old tobacco ads check out the Stanford School of Medicine)

No cred for Chris Carrabba

Here’s a little clip of Dashboard Confessional’s frontman, Chris Carrabba, playing a charity show in July to raise money for cancer patients around the world. His performance wouldn’t merit any attention at all, if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s playing at a pro-smoking (tobacco sponsored) gig in Indonesia this weekend.

Check out the reference in his preamble to “experiences of cancer in my family”, and his praise for the “indomitable spirit” of the cancer survivors he is playing for.

Ready to puke yet?

$1 smokes good news for Galaxy 7

Japan’s decision to hike the price of cigarettes couldn’t have been timed better for local band Galaxy 7. The boys are booked to play a pro-tobacco concert next week in Indonesia, where cigarettes are dirt cheap.

Even if, for some strange reason, they don’t smoke themselves, they can stock up and make a “killing” when they get home.

That’s the beauty of living in a country like Indonesia – you can smoke yourself to death and it won’t cost you much over your shortened life. Even so, cigarettes are among the biggest household expenditures for poor Indonesians, ahead of things like health and education.

Galaxy 7 and the folks at Java Ronckin’Land hope to keep it that way. Here’s Galaxy 7’s video to their Indonesian fans:

OK I admit I love that guitar riff. Pity I won’t be going to see the show – not as long as it’s sponsored by a tobacco company.

Fans corner Dashboard Confessional on Facebook

Anti-cancer campaigners one day, tobacco marketers the next: US band Dashboard Confessional is sending pretty confusing messages to its fans about what it is they stand for. And some of those fans are starting to demand answers.

The band’s Facebook page features a plug for the upcoming gig in Jakarta which is being sponsored by a major tobacco company. Tobacco sponsorship is bad enough anywhere it occurs, but in a country like Indonesia it’s absolutely repugnant.

Most of the responses to Dashboard’s Facebook Wall post are typically mindless, but a few of DC’s fans obviously have a conscience and are voicing their concerns:

Confused fans might also like to send Chris Carrabba a Tweet at @ChrisCarrabba. His third last post highlighted his participation in a cancer benefit show in July:

This Saturday hike with me to the top of Pikes Peak & support cancer care! We’ll play some songs at the top! More here: http://bit.ly/bsuh5w

He links to the Love, Hope, Strength Foundation. So what is it, Chris? You can’t have it both ways. Your fans deserve an answer.

The other US bands participating in the pro-smoking event include The Smashing Pumpkins and MUTEMATH. Here are links to their Facebook pages if you want to make a comment.

(Updated for typo, Oct 8)