Public Health on Top

British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) has recently organized a so-called job fair at a public university where it placed an eye-catching booth carrying the message "BAT Bangladesh is here now. Drop your CV. Job fair will start from 10 am." The company has also been organizing "Battle of Minds (BoM)" for the last 20 years (2004-2023) with the sole pretext of recruiting the youth. While more than 20,000 young job-seekers participated in the BoM, only 100 or so were recruited. Meanwhile, the company spent crores after crores in road shows, organizing events at Five-Star Hotels, banners and festoons, expensive travels, and recreational and promotional activities.

Every day on average 442 lives are lost in Bangladesh due to tobacco use. The true purpose of such glamorous events is to hide tobacco-induced deaths and losses and confuse the policymakers. With the speedy passage of the draft amendment of tobacco control law, this ill tactic of tobacco companies must be put to an end.