British American Tobacco’s corporate greed

BAT sells on average per month 100 million sticks of tobacco and annually 1.2 billion sticks of Tobacco. It is estimated that in Papua New Guinea the adult smoking population is approximately 3 million out of a population of 7 million. If you do the math, this is really scary.

BAT’s overall goal and objective is to grow volume through increased distribution, they do this by making cigarettes available in every outlet, street market, and clubs, with no concern for the exposure it has on our children.

The real reason why prices of cigarettes went up in December and in early January was because management had decided to hold back stock, because they had already hit their final year end Target in November 2011, which guaranteed them Fat bonuses. They also held back the stock because they wanted to manage their shareholder expectations down in Australia. If they had gone over target, this year 2012 shareholders will be putting more pressure and demand more from them, hence no guarantee for another fat bonus.

Because of Corporate Greed they have gone ahead and violated the basic rights of consumers in PNG, after getting them hooked on the drug.

The ICCC and IRC must investigate this because the lives of Papua New Guineans are at risk from this greedy corporate giant, and if worse comes to worse a class action in courts is possible.