UK advertising regulator rules Japan Tobacco ads 'misleading'

Not at all surprised by this. The Japanese Government and it's member own huge stakes in Japan Tobacco. Nothing to trust from those clowns.

Tobacco addiction is on a slippery slope. Cigarette branding, without a doubt, will be on the way out in many countries over the coming years and maybe that is why the Japanese government is starting to cash out from now. At least, it seems the money it gets is going to a good cause:

"The government will sell off 253,261,800 shares in Japan Tobacco Inc. on the market, the Finance Ministry has announced.

The government will sell the shares at 2,949 yen apiece, a discount of 2 percent on the stock's closing price on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday.

Of the shares, 145,625,500, or 57.5 percent, will be sold in Japan, and the rest will be sold abroad. Currently, more than 60 percent of JT shares, excluding those owned by the government, are held by foreign investors.

The total number of shares to be sold, including those already bought back by the company, will be 333,333,200.

Proceeds from the sale, estimated at about 973.4 billion yen, will be used to finance restoration projects for the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami disaster."

After the sale, the government's stake in the company will drop to slightly more than one-third.

Gotta laugh at tobacco advertising in Japan! Always featuring healthy-looking, athletic-bodied models with white teeth and unblemished skin! Yeah, right!

The fact that the Japanese government has a stake in cigarettes, with no objection from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, tells you everything you need to know about real government attitudes to safety and health, despite the endless use of safety and health to promote policies.

We will need a good deal less that 1/3 of the shares owned by the government before plain packaging comes in here.

II lost my grandmother last year to lung cancer, (she smoked), and now my mom (who also smokes) May also have cancer.