Public Health on Top

There has been a massive spike in the so-called CSR activities of British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB). In the month of July (2020), amid the coronavirus pandemic, the company sponsored at least 10 events that took place in different parts of the country. In those events, BATB has managed to secure the presence of govt. officials (mainly administration), minister, members of parliament, vice-chancellors of universities, local elected representatives and other eminent personalities. The number of such influential figures attending BATB-sponsored events in July alone stands at 25. A total of 33 reports were published in print and online media that highlighted the BATB-sponsored events. TV media is also no exception. BATB itself has published 08 posts about these events on its Facebook page. BATB exploits issues such as safe drinking water supply and afforestation to make useful connections with power-holders. Such connections come in handy in time of business expansion. Besides, huge publicity of these events also helps the company in its brand image building. It should be noted that tobacco cultivation and subsequent curing of tobacco leaves are responsible for 30 percent of deforestation in Bangladesh. In order to process tobacco, 2.932 million trees are burnt each year (Daily Prothom Alo, 31 May 2011). The tobacco control law should be amended in line with FCTC to put an end to this charade of tobacco companies, which they claim to be CSR.