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Big tobacco woos small shops
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A worker collects cigarettes at a factory in Surabaya, East Java, recently. (thejakartapost.com/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)
It was an offer that Suliyati Sanaf, a small shopkeeper in Kalibata, South Jakarta, could hardly resist.
In early 2014, she was approached by a salesman from a major tobacco firm and promised various incentives if she was willing to sell its cigarettes and display its brand in her shop.
The company offered to give her up to Rp 1.5 million (US$112) a year for displaying some of the company’s cigarette brands on a shelf that was immediately visible from the shop’s entrance.
“In addition to that, every three months, I was also given various electronic devices, such as a TV, speakers and a DVD Player. I received a wide-screen 41-inch TV,” Suliyati told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Displaying the company’s cigarette brands and installing its banner was all she had to do according to a contract, which she had to renew annually.
She said she was not required to write periodical reports, and even though the Jakarta administration banned outdoor cigarette ads in 2015, her cooperation with the tobacco firm continued.
“The incentives are based on sales. The more empty cigarette packs I can show them, the more incentives I get.”
