As long term readers will recall, tobacco promotion is so confident and unrestrained in the Philippines that Fortune Tobacco, the local big player, can exploit the allegiances of the country's Catholic majority by linking its products to figures from the Christian bible story, particularly the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. It is common for Filipinos to place religious images in their homes, cars, shops, and offices, many no doubt produced by commercial interests. However, for the exploitation of religion to sell cigarettes, the latest in a series of promotional calendars produced by Fortune gives even British American Tobacco (BAT), whose Pakistan excesses were featured in our last issue (Tobacco Control2001;10;93–4), a run for its money.

Fortune has been producing religious calendars for over a decade. …