Directorate General of Customs and Excise on Against Illicit Cigarrete Campaign

Abstract

Indonesia’s high volume of illicit cigarette trade encourages the government to issue new policies to cut the distribution. In 2019, the government attempted an alternative breakthrough by focusing on public communication and education in introducing features of illicit cigarettes through a campaign named “Gempur Rokok Ilegal” (Against Illicit Cigarette Campaign) while optimizing the law enforcement. The Directorate General of Customs and Excises as the executor of the policy, mobilize its Customs and Excise Offices in the entire Indonesian territory to perform the campaign in their respective work area, including Parepare city. The present study attempts to scrutinize this campaign’s communication plans and strategies using a descriptive qualitative approach. This study was conducted in Parepare Customs and Excise Office whose working territory exhibits one of Indonesia’s highest volumes of illicit cigarette distribution. This study applied AIDDA and SWOT models to analyze the campaign communication planning and strategy. The primary and secondary data were collected by conducting in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. The collected data were classified based on the categories and then analyzed by the filling system technique. This study concludes that the selection and analysis of mass media to support the campaign is highly effective, particularly the use of small-format mass media and online media to aim at millennials. This finding is supported by the significant decrease in the quantity of seized illicit cigarette.