BAT halts controversial promotion

JAKARTA (JP): The British American Tobacco (BAT) has stopped its Pall Mall parties, part of its nation-wide sales campaign, following protests from non-governmental organizations.

The company's subsidiary BAT Indonesia director Didi Nugrahadi said here on Tuesday that the NGOs' charge that the parties which were occasionally held in the country's major cities were "indecent" was not totally true.

But he said the company was willing to apologize to the community as "on this occasion some groups within the community have been upset, which was certainly not intended and this is a matter of sincere regret for which we apologize."

The company has been widely criticized after staging a Pall Mall party on Aug. 12 in Surakarta during which the organizer opened the so called "Dress You Up" competition.

The NGOs charged the controversial contest, which encouraged participants to take off as much clothing as they dared, was tantamount to endorsing nudity.

Didi said that an internal inquiry had been made and discovered that there was no nudity at all in the contest.

A group of 13 NGOs and university institutions in Central Java and Jakarta, naming themselves Pall Mall Victims Advocacy Team, filed a request with the Solo Police on Oct. 5 to investigate the matter.

"We have given the police the video recording of the party and named our witnesses," BATI's lawyer M. Mahedradatta said, adding that in the meantime BATI will try to approach the Advocacy Team to clear up the matter between them.

Pall Mall was launched to the Indonesian public in 1998 with a night life image. It then bolstered the image by holding parties in cafes and discotheques in different cities in Indonesia. (10)