Number of newspaper articles stratified by characteristics of interest (n=157)
| Category | Explanation of terms | Tobacco company/companies responsible for the data | Total | |||||
| PMI | IMT | BAT | JTI | Other* | Consultant & not PMI | |||
| TTC third party involved in data creation† | ||||||||
| PMI consultant | Consultant hired by PMI to conduct UTPs | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 36 | 99 |
| Anti-counterfeiting group | Campaign group co-founded by the tobacco industry with tobacco-industry members | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MS Intelligence | Research consultancy hired by PMI to conduct EPSs | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 15 |
| KPMG | Consultancy hired by PMI (& more recently other TTCs) to compile data from EPSs | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 16 |
| Populus | Research consultancy hired by PMI to conduct surveys | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Newspaper collaboration | TTC working together with a newspaper on seizures | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies | Research consultancy hired by PMI | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Tobacco Manufacturers Association/Tobacco Retailers Alliance | Organisations wholly owned by TTCs to campaign on their behalf | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| Type of Illicit mentioned† | ||||||||
| Smuggled | See table 1 for full definitions | 36 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 13 | 28 | 100 |
| NUKDP | 9 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 34 | |
| Contraband | 19 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 34 | |
| Counterfeit/fake | 48 | 9 | 0 | 17 | 5 | 31 | 110 | |
| Tobacco-industry illicit (the term ‘genuine’ product used in the article) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| Cheap/illicit whites | 22 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 39 | |
| Cross border sales | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 19 | |
| Data methodology† | ||||||||
| Undercover test purchases | Attempts to purchase illicit tobacco without disclosing the true purpose of the purchase | 47 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 26 | 90 |
| Empty pack survey | Collection of discarded packs which are assessed as domestic or non-domestic | 16 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 39 |
| Raid/seizure | A search of premises usually in collaboration with trading standards | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| Other methodology‡ | Any other methodology including surveys or interviews conducted with tobacco retailers for their perceptions on the scale of illicit trade | 9 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 37 |
| Data nationality | ||||||||
| UK | TTC data refers to the UK | 57 | 13 | 1 | 22 | 11 | 39 | 143 |
| Australia | TTC data refers to Australia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 11 |
| Both | Article includes TTC data from both UK & Australia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Newspaper | ||||||||
| Subnational | Article appeared in a subnational publication | 47 | 12 | 0 | 16 | 9 | 37 | 121 |
| National | Article appeared in a national UK publication | 14 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 36 |
| Government agency mentioned§ | ||||||||
| HMRC only | HMRC | 13 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 35 |
| Trading standards only | Trading standards agency | 17 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 39 |
| Both | Both HMRC & trading standards mentioned in the same article | 12 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 22 |
*Includes where ‘tobacco companies’ in general are mentioned as the data source; two or more tobacco companies are named; or the tobacco industry owned Tobacco Manufacturers Association is attributed as the data source.
†Will not add up to 157 as more than one type of data collection method was mentioned and more than one type of illicit tobacco was mentioned in many of the articles or sometimes TTCs presented their own data; that is, there was not always a third-party involved in the creation of the data.
‡Other methodology includes TTC funded surveys of retailers, police officers and other interested parties’ opinions on the scale of illicit tobacco and data provided by tobacco companies and industry data of unknown methodology.
§Will not add up to 157 as only 96 articles mentioned a Government agency.
BAT, British American Tobacco; EPSs, empty-pack surveys; HMRC, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs; IMT, Imperial Tobacco; JTI, Japan Tobacco International; NUKDP, non-UK duty paid; PMI, Philip Morris International; TTCs, transnational tobacco companies; UTPs, undercover test purchases.