Written By: Nirmalya Dutta | Updated : May 31, 2014 9:50 AM IST
Doctors and health experts in Karnataka believe that the only way to lower tobacco use is to ensure that there's a blanket ban on all types of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in the state. This ties in with the theme of this year's World No Tobacco Day campaign 'Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship'. Addressing a press conference, Upendra Bhojani, faculty at the Institute of Public Health, demanded that the state rigorously enforce the ban.
According to WHO, the tobacco industry spends billions around the year in advertising, promotion and sponsorship. In countries like ours where direct advertising is banned, the tobacco industry usually adopts a technique called 'surrogate advertising' in which they promote other products to drill the brand name into the consumer. The long-term goal is a total ban on direct and indirect advertising, promotion and sponsorship, as provided in guidelines to Article 13 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, can substantially reduce tobacco consumption and protect people, particularly the youth, from industry marketing tactics. To be effective, bans must be complete and apply to all marketing categories.
Currently, it's believed tobacco kills nearly six million people every year and of them six lakh die due to exposure to passive smoking. While the Section 5 of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act prescribes a complete ban on all forms of tobacco promotions, advertisements and sponsorships, companies get around this loophole by using surrogate advertising which employs similar imagery logos for tobacco and non-tobacco products.
Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, a cancer surgeon at Mumbai's Tata Memorial Hospital who recently won the prestigious Wilkenfeld Award in the US for his innovative leadership in the fight to reduce tobacco use in India feels that industry manipulates people by forcing them to use their products. He said, 'The industry uses strategic tactics to dilute the tobacco control policy. They lobby with the government and see to it that the policies are delayed and weakened before implementation. They promote their products either through indirect advertisements or diversify their products. They showcase as a doing good for the well-being of the society by investing in corporate social responsibility or giving bravery awards.'
