WHO urges total tobacco ad ban

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DR MARGARET CHAN: Tobacco marketing net ensnares millions of young people worldwide. (Getty Images)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged governments to protect the world's 1.8 billion young people by imposing a ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

The WHO made its call to coincide with World No Tobacco Day, which took place on May 31. This year's campaign focused on the multi-billion dollar efforts of tobacco companies to attract young people to its products through what it calls, 'sophisticated marketing'.

According to the WHO, studies prove that the more young people are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more likely they are to start smoking.

Despite this, only 5% of the world's population is covered by comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Tobacco companies, the WHO claims, continue to target young people by associating use of tobacco products with qualities such as glamour, energy and sex appeal.

"In order to survive, the tobacco industry needs to replace those who quit or die with new young consumers," said WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan.

"It does this by creating a complex 'tobacco marketing net' that ensnares millions of young people worldwide, with potentially devastating health consequences."

"A ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship is a powerful tool we can use to protect the world's youth," she added.

Most people start smoking before the age of 18 and almost a quarter of those before the age of 10, the WHO claims in a recent press release.

Tobacco companies, it argues, are therefore beginning to market their products wherever youth can be easily accessed: in films, on the internet, in fashion magazines and at music and sports venues.

In a WHO study of 13 to 15-year-olds in schools worldwide, more than 55% of students reported seeing advertisements for cigarettes on billboards in the previous month, while 20% owned an item with a logo of a cigarette brand printed on it.

It is in the developing world, home to most of the world's young people, where tobacco advertising is now most concentrated. The WHO claims that young women and girls in these areas are particularly vulnerable to sophisticated marketing techniques.

"The tobacco industry employs predatory marketing strategies to get young people hooked to their addictive drug," said Dr Douglas Bettcher, director of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative.

"But comprehensive advertising bans do work, reducing tobacco consumption by up to 16% in countries that have already taken this legislative step."

"Half measures are not enough," added Bettcher. "When one form of advertising is banned, the tobacco industry simply shifts its vast resources to another channel. We urge governments to impose a complete ban to break the tobacco marketing net," he said.

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