One of the world's largest tobacco companies has launched a brand of cigarettes in Hong Kong that critics say targets young women.
The target of the anti-smoking lobby's wrath is Japan Tobacco International's Pianissimo brand, which the critics claim is a product aimed at capitalising on the city's growing army of young female smokers.
Some are also worried that Pianissimo is being painted as a healthier option for smokers. It has been marketed in Japan as a 'cleaner' cigarette with less smoke and odour. Pianissimo is a musical term meaning very soft.
The cigarettes sell for $32 a pack and come in two forms: 'lights' with 6mg of tar and 0.4 mg of nicotine per cigarette, and 'ones', which have 1mg of tar and 0.1 mg of nicotine. Both are menthol-flavoured slim cigarettes, popular with women.
Advertising for the brand features a 28-year-old British woman, according to information provided by Japan Tobacco International (JTI). Next to her picture are the words 'Naturally me'.
'It just shows how tobacco companies are continuing to deceive the public and young people in Hong Kong and around the world,' said the recently appointed executive director of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, Leung Kin-ming.