Enforce bans on tobacco advertising,
promotion and sponsorship
Banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship reduces smoking and denormalizes tobacco use The tobacco industry spends tens of billions of dollars worldwide each year on advertising, promotion and sponsorship (150). To counter this, WHO FCTC Article 13 (Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship) calls for comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in accordance with each country’s constitutional principles (1). To assist countries in achieving this goal, the Conference of the Parties adopted guidelines for implementing Article 13 (3).
Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship can make smoking more socially acceptable, impede efforts to educate people about the hazards of tobacco use, and strengthen the tobacco industry’s influence over media, sporting and entertainment businesses.
A comprehensive ban on all advertising, promotion and sponsorship protects people from industry marketing tactics and could decrease tobacco consumption by about 7%, independent of other tobacco control interventions (151). Complete bans block the industry’s ability to continue marketing to young people who have not yet started to use tobacco, and to adult tobacco users who want to quit. Partial bans have little or no effect: if advertising is prohibited in a particular medium, the tobacco industry merely redirects expenditures to places where advertising is permitted (152, 153).
The tobacco industry strongly opposes marketing bans because they are highly effective in reducing tobacco use. The industry often argues that outright bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship are not necessary and that voluntary codes and self-regulation are sufficient.
However, voluntary restrictions are ineffective because there is no force of law, and ultimately the industry fails to comply with its own voluntary regulations (154). Government intervention through well-drafted and well-enforced legislation is required because the tobacco industry has substantial expertise in circumventing advertising bans.
Only Panama implemented a new ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in 2008
■■ One country (Panama) joined the group of countries with complete bans on all forms of advertising, promotion and sponsorship in 2008, bringing the total number with complete bans on all forms of direct and indirect advertising and marketing to 26, covering 8.8% of the world’s population (compared with 8.7% in 2007).
■■ Middle-income countries have made greater progress in implementing comprehensive bans on all advertising, promotion and sponsorship than have low- or high-income countries.
■■ More than half of high-income countries have banned tobacco advertising in all broadcast and print media but ban only some other forms of direct and indirect advertising, compared with over one third of middle-income countries and about 28% of low-income countries.
■■ Few countries with comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship enforce these policies to a high degree. Only three high-income countries and six middle-income countries have achieved high compliance, and four low-income country have done so.
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