Indonesia - Australian bands (2) will they perform at tobacco sponsored musical festival??

September 24, 2010 - Australian rock bands Wolfmother and The Vines have come under fire for agreeing to play a Jakarta music festival sponsored by a major Indonesian tobacco company. Both bands announced this week they would perform at next month's Java Rockin'Land festival, set to be one of the biggest music events of the year in the Indonesian capital. But anti-smoking campaigners say if the bands do perform they will effectively be promoting its major sponsor, Indonesian cigarette maker Gudang Garam (Indonesian for "salt warehouse") a major Indonesian kretek (clove cigarette) manufacturer.

Wolfmother To Play Indonesia

23 September 2010

Wolfmother will be playing at Java Rockin’land Festival on October 10th. This one is for the fans in Indonesia who have parted with their very own cold hard cash to see Wolfmother. We realize their are sponsors and we neither support or condemn the sponsors affiliated with the festival. We are very much looking forward to what we hope will be the first of many shows to come in Indonesia.

Australian alternative rock band noted for producing a musical hybrid of '60s rock and '90s alternative music, THE VINES, are confirmed to perform at Gudang Garam InterMusic Java Rockin'land 2010.

THE VINES will be performing on Sunday, 10 October 2010.

Sydney Medical School's director of research Simon Chapman has urged the bands to reconsider. "If the artists put their foot down, the event organisers will get rid of the tobacco sponsorship," Chapman told AAP on Thursday, September 23rd.

Indonesia has extremely lax tobacco laws and is one of only a handful of countries that refuse to sign up to the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Local and transnational tobacco companies often sponsor concerts and sporting events, where they hand out free samples. Cigarette advertising campaigns are often aimed squarely at teenagers. (Indonesia - paradise for smokers and paradise for tobacco companies..)

American singer Kelly Clarkson dropped tobacco sponsorship for her Jakarta concert in April after anti-smoking groups argued she was effectively encouraging her young fans to smoke. Alicia Keys did the same thing in 2008.

American bands Smashing Pumpkins and Dashboard Confessional are also on the festival line-up.

The Smashing Pumpkins Tour Dates
Oct 08 Jakarta Java Rockin Land Festival/Carnaval Ancol

Dashboard Confessional
CT 92010 10/9/2010 Pantai Carnaval Jakarta, IDN

United States is also not a party to the FCTC international public health treaty.

Reference: Wolfmother, Vines urged to ditch concert, Adam Gartrell, Indonesia Correspondent - Australian Associated Press (AAP), The Sydney Morning Herald, 9/23/2010.