Canada’s three major cigarette manufacturers are expected to begin brand advertising later this month after adopting new self-imposed, independently enforced guidelines.

Although the federal government says it is drafting new legislation that will prohibit all tobacco advertising, the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers’ Council last month announced a Tobacco Industry Voluntary Packaging and Advertising Code.

The council represents Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans Benson & Hedges and RJR-Macdonald, which for the past five years have had advertising limited to sponsorship of sports and cultural events.

They voluntarily stopped broadcast advertising in 1972, and, in 1988 the federal Tobacco Products Control Act announced all tobacco advertising would be phased out over a three-year period.

Last September, citing a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedom, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the act.

While the court’s decision means tobacco manufacturers could advertise on radio and television, they are restricting their efforts to newspapers, magazines and outdoor.

Brian McLean, president of Mediacom of Toronto, says there’s been some booking and inquiries, but adds: ‘we’ve been enjoying sponsorship business from them all the way through,’ he says. ‘They may trade some of those sponsorship dollars for branding dollars.’

McLean says the problem with the outdoor business is its fixed inventory and adds the only way tobacco companies can gain is to book heavily in soft periods.

‘One of the good sides of the last five years – and there hasn’t been a lot of them since tobacco [advertising] disappeared in 1991 – was redeveloping a new customer base.

‘As we weaned ourselves off tobacco three years prior to [tobacco products advertisers] leaving, we found we were blessed with other pretty good customers not only in packaged goods, but also such sectors as entertainment and financial.’

Some of the regulations covered in the new code include that advertising be aimed at adult consumers only; lifestyle advertising be prohibited and ads featuring or depicting people be banned; the continuation of health messages on product advertising attributed to Health Canada, and restricted use of tobacco trademarks on non-tobacco items.

To ensure objective and independent enforcement of the code, a Tobacco Advertising Supervisory Committee has been created.

Committee members are Patrick McDougall, president of the Association of Canadian Advertisers; John Sinclair, president of the Institute of Canadian Advertising, and Joseph Mullie, general manager of L’Association des agences de publicite du Quebec.

Advertising for Imperial Tobacco is handled by Armada Bates of Montreal.

Rothmans’ agency is Saatchi & Saatchi, Toronto. rjr’s roster includes Harrod & Mirlin and Sharpe Blackmore Partnership.