HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Simpson, D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Simpson, D. Topic Collections TC News analysis

Niger: beauty and the beast

While much attention is given, deservedly, to the expansionist tactics in the developing world of the big three tobacco transnationals—Philip, BAT, and Japan Tobacco—several smaller tobacco companies are busily emulating them. In Niger, as in other French speaking west African countries, the dominant tobacco company since colonial times has been Seita, the former French tobacco monopoly now merged into Altadis along with its Spanish counterpart Tabacalera.

Capitalising on Letka (The Flock), a highly successful 1960s film mixing cartoon and human characters that is still remembered by Czech movie goers, the slogan on this Czech tobacco ad says: "The legend returns!". The brand is made by the Czech company Tabak. Any detailed interpretation of the ad's imagery may best be left to practitioners of the psychoanalytic traditions for which middle Europe is famous.

Last year's Miss Niger beauty contest demonstrates how the new, smaller tobacco companies can give the big boys . . . [Full text of this article]