Is Kiran Rao right about tobacco ads at the cinemas being useless?

Find out the results of the health.india.com survey on anti smoking ads.

By: Nirmalya Dutta | | Updated: December 16, 2013 6:53 pm

The recent Koffee with Karan episode had one interesting moment when the host asked Aamir Khan’s wife Kiran Rao about the efficacy of anti-tobacco ads showed before and during movies. Mrs Aamir Khan replied that the she didn’t know a single person who had quit because of the ads. Now these ads have been widely criticised by the filming fraternity for some time. Also Read - Ganesh Chaturthi 2020: 4 reasons an eco-friendly Ganesha is good for you

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People from the industry condemned the ads for showing audiences something unpalatable when they’ve paid money to be entertained. Woody Allen refused to let his movie Blue Jasmine release in India because he didn’t care for the ads while Ram Gopal Varma and Anurag Kashyap have also spoken out against the ads. Refusing to play those ads before his soon-to-be released movie Ugly he said: ‘I don’t want my audience to get distracted and my film is not an advertisement hoarding for social service messages. And I as a filmmaker will not take on the charitable stance of ridding society of all its ills. And the health ministry can’t do both: take revenue from the tobacco industry and make it my responsibility to educate people about why they should avoid tobacco. I take my films seriously.’ Also Read - 7 reasons why the #BeefBan is good

So this begs the question are these these ads of any help at all or are they like the film fraternity thinks or they actually encourage and repulse smokers and tobacco users to quit smoking. We at www.thehealthsite.com felt a small survey was in order and here were the questions:

Have you seen the ads?
What do did you think of the ads?
Do you know any single person who has quit tobacco or changed their mind about tobacco after watching the ads?

The survey results show that the ads are definitely reaching the audience with an overwhelming 95% having at least seen the ads. When asked what they thought of the ads 58% thought that they were informative and necessary, 13% thought that the ads were informative but gruesome, 12% thought it was a waste of time and a measly 6% had other opinions.

As for Mrs Rao’s assertion that no one had has quit tobacco after watching the ads a significant 42% of the respondents said that they knew someone who had quit after watching the ads, while 39% claimed to not know anyone who was inspired to quit after watching the ads. 19% of the people surveyed chose the can’t say option.

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Published : December 16, 2013 6:32 pm | Updated:December 16, 2013 6:53 pm

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