Rio Ferdinand is at the centre of a row over tobacco advertising after anti-smoking charities accused him of promoting a company that owns one of Asia's cigarette brands(read more). The England and Manchester United footballer features in billboard advertisements and YouTube videos in Indonesia that promote Gudang Garam International's internet-based sports channel, Intersport. But the company is one of Indonesia's largest tobacco firms and its cigarettes, flavoured with spices such as cloves and cinnamon, are popular with children.
A spokesman for Ferdinand, who supports the global children's charity Unicef, insisted that the footballer, who does not smoke, was advertising the sports channel and not tobacco. It appears that Ferdinand, one of many international football stars to appear in the ads, had been unaware that Gudang Garam International makes much of its profits from tobacco or that his image would be used on billboards which carry the cigarette brand logo. Its Intersport channel shows Premier League football matches and helps to raise the profile of English football in Asia, The spokesman added that Ferdinand was consulting lawyers about the use of his image in the campaign. The World Health Organisation predicts smoking will kill one billion people worldwide this century.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the anti-smoking group Ash, said sponsorship deals such as this were banned in the UK because of concerns that they promoted cigarettes to young people. She also called on Ferdinand to dissociate himself from GGI. 'Rio talks a good talk about putting children first when he tweets for Unicef, but he has to put his money where his mouth is,' Ms Arnott told The Observer. 'Well over a third of 15-year-old boys in Indonesia smoke and smoking rates among the young have increased sixfold since 1995. 'Rio is estimated to be worth £40m and to earn more than £100,000 a week; does he really need to do this? 'I hope now he realises what he's done he'll apologise.'
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