A decision to distribute almost 5,000 free cigarettes to UCD students at a Law Society Ball tonight has angered the Irish Cancer Society. The university's Law Society promises a night of "free drink, free cigarettes, free cigars, free love. . ." but the anti-smoking society says the deal is "manipulative" and questioned the legality of the action.
The Law Society Auditor, Mr Andrew Fitzpatrick, last night refused to reveal the name of the cigarette company providing the free cigarettes to the 350 ballgoers, saying it would have to be approved by the sponsors. "The cigarettes will be available at the event for those who wish to smoke them," he said.
The issue had been debated by the Law Society last week, he said, and students had voted, by a narrow margin, in favour of sponsorship by the tobacco industry.
But in a letter to the Law Society, the ICS chief executive, Mr Barry Dempsey, said he was "amazed that an audience as apparently sophisticated as UCD law undergraduates might fall for such a cheap and patronising promotional ploy".
Other sponsorship deals are also in place. Last week at the Hallowe'en ball, Carrolls cigarettes company had an "exclusivity deal" with the UCD Students' Union. Only its cigarettes were sold and it had branded ashtrays placed on tables Also, in a threeyear deal, the Gallaher tobacco company has refurbished student union shops and office space.
Mr Dempsey said there was an "extraordinary matter-of-fact acceptance" among students about sponsorship by the tobacco industry. "I can understand at their age they do not want to be told they are being manipulated for market share but that is what is happening. Cigarette companies are very clever at what they do - they are buying attitude and student ambivalence to smoking in the future."
The Students' Union president, Mr John Nisbet, defended the sponsorship deals, including the sponsorship of the Hallowe'en ball. "There were no extra cigarettes sold, no advertising on the poster and no extra cigarettes given out."
Mr Nisbet said he could not remember offhand how much money had been paid for the Gallaher refurbishment deal but it is believed to be worth several thousand pounds. He said he did not believe the sponsorship would encourage students to smoke, pointing out that the level of advertising in the campus shops had not increased, except that Gallaher cigarettes are now placed at eye level in the shops.
He did not believe it contradictory that the students' union accepted money from the tobacco companies while supporting UCD's anti-smoking policy. The union, he said, was aware that cigarette companies have "wily methods" of keeping brand profiles high.