ABC’s 20/20: Philip Morris International’s Link to Indonesia’s “Mini-explosion of Smoking Babies”
September 12, 2011
With Indonesia in the grip of what it calls an 'uncontrolled tobacco epidemic,' ABC’s 20/20 turns its cameras beyond the shocking images of smoking babies and schoolchildren to spotlight the role of lax government regulation and Philip Morris International’s marketing to youth.
In ABC's September 9 broadcast, correspondent Dan Harris reveals how Indonesian children can purchase cigarettes with 'no questions asked.' And he exposes internal Philip Morris International documents showing that when the tobacco giant took over the local Sampoerna brand, it immediately marketed the product as 'young,' 'cool' and 'trendy.'
'It's as if Indonesia is in an insane time warp, like America in the 1950s when cigarette ads were everywhere,' Harris says.
