Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC), local subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT), has been engaged in one of the most determined tobacco industry public relations blitzes ever seen in South Asia. Quite why it has mounted it now is unclear, though for some time the government has been making tobacco control noises, and BAT may have woken up to a nasty possibility. While it currently enjoys an almost totally free hand to convey exciting, glamorous messages for its lethal products to young people, things may change as the government considers how to implement the FCTC.

With the theme of “Daring to be different”, newspaper and broadcast ads have covered a range of benefits that …