Tobacco addiction is a communicated disease – communicated through advertising, sports, marketing and sponsorship. Tobacco advertising bans protect people, especially the young. Lured in large numbers by the glare and glamour of tobacco marketing that sells a deadly product as the taste of freedom and fashion, between 80,000 and 99,000 children and adolescents in the world take to tobacco every day.
—World Health Organization1
The cigarette industry has been artfully maintaining that cigarette advertising has nothing to do with total sales. This is complete and utter nonsense. The industry knows it is nonsense. I am always amused by the suggestion that advertising, a function that has been shown to increase consumption of virtually every other product, somehow miraculously fails to work for tobacco products.
—Emerson Foote, former CEO of McCann-Erickson, a global advertising agency that has handled millions of dollars in tobacco industry accounts2
With millions of their customers either dying from tobacco-related illnesses or quitting each year, it is crucial for the financial health of the tobacco industry to keep recruiting new smokers. Since studies show that the majority of smokers begin before the age of 18, the logic of the industry dictates that it must somehow reach young people.3
Each year, the tobacco industry spends billions of dollars around the globe on advertising, promotions, sponsorships and other forms of promotion. Industry documents reveal that the companies have carefully studied the habits, tastes and desires of their potential customers and then used that research to develop products and marketing campaigns aimed at them.4
Despite industry denials, the overwhelming majority of independent, peer-reviewed studies show that tobacco advertising leads to an increase in consumption.5 Tobacco advertising also has a powerful effect on young people. Studies have shown that tobacco promotional activities are causally related to the onset of smoking in adolescents and that exposure to cigarette advertising is predictive of smoking among adolescents. Research has also shown that following the introduction of brand advertisements that appeal to young people, the prevalence of use of those brands, and even the prevalence of smoking altogether, increases.6
There is compelling evidence that much of tobacco industry advertising and promotion is directed at children and successfully recruits new tobacco users. The evidence that tobacco advertising and promotion increases tobacco use is solid and extensive, as the following examples illustrate.
Both the World Health Organization and the World Bank recommend that countries prohibit all forms of tobacco advertising and promotion. A number of countries have banned all forms of tobacco advertising, while others are instituting tough restrictions. Finland, France, India, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore and Thailand, among others, have banned all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.16 Such bans, if adopted globally, could substantially reduce tobacco consumption.
The scientific evidence on the effectiveness of advertising bans in reducing consumption is robust.
An international review of the effect of tobacco advertising bans on tobacco consumption concluded that "a comprehensive set of tobacco advertising bans can reduce tobacco consumption but a limited set of advertising bans will have little or no effect." This 2000 study examined data from 102 countries and found that partial bans were ineffective in reducing tobacco consumption. Per capita cigarette consumption in countries with comprehensive bans declined by about eight percent while consumption rates in countries without such bans declined by only about one percent. Furthermore, the rate of decline in smoking was much steeper in those countries with relatively comprehensive bans.23
Partial advertising bans do not work because tobacco companies respond to partial bans by shifting their advertising expenditures to non-restricted media, with little or no effect on overall consumption. The tobacco industry has become adept at finding creative new ways to promote, reinforce or maintain the impact of their brand names, especially with young people. Such "indirect advertising" methods include:
Sports Sponsorship: The tobacco companies link their products with health and athletic prowess, and reach a large number of young people, by sponsoring sporting events and teams.
Promotional Items: Tobacco companies put their cigarette logos on T-shirts, hats, backpacks and other consumer items popular with children. Such practices circumvent advertising restrictions and turn the wearers into walking billboards.
Brand Stretching: Tobacco companies are now moving beyond traditional promotional items to the marketing of other products with a shared brand name, such as Marlboro Classics clothing, Salem Power Station music stores and Benson & Hedges coffees and coffee shops. These new marketing ventures are designed to keep promoting tobacco brand names even when tobacco advertising is banned.24
Samples: In many countries, the companies give away free samples in areas where young people gather, such as at shopping malls, rock concerts and discos. Giving away an addictive product costs them little, and ensures them a steady stream of new customers.
Entertainment: The tobacco industry sponsors discos, rock concerts and other events popular with young people, and has encouraged the positive portrayal of smoking in movies. They have also begun to rely on global satellite, cable and Internet advertising to circumvent national ad bans.25
The tobacco industry will lobby hard to defeat efforts to restrict advertising:
To undercut political support for strong marketing restrictions, tobacco companies will often offer to adopt voluntary codes of conduct which appear to offer significant concessions. However, these proposals are usually designed for public relations purposes, are rarely followed, and, once political pressure is reduced, are quickly ignored.28
Tobacco companies consistently predict that ad bans will have severe economic impacts on advertisers, the media and the economy as a whole. In most cases, however, tobacco advertising constitutes a small percentage of total advertising revenue, minimizing the economic impact on media outlets currently accepting tobacco ads:
The tobacco industry also often invokes its right to "freedom of speech", arguing that any product that is legal to sell should be legal to advertise. Yet in most countries there are numerous precedents for prohibiting the promotion of certain harmful products. Around the world, governments have regularly banned or restricted advertising for other legal products, such as pharmaceuticals or alcohol.31
Tobacco companies also claim that the only aim of indirect advertising or "brand identification" advertising is to promote non-tobacco products and not tobacco products. Yet internal tobacco industry documents indicate that indirect tobacco advertising, while not specifically mentioning the tobacco product, tries to circumvent a tobacco advertising ban or restriction by using brand names, trade names, trade marks, emblems or other distinctive features of tobacco products with the aim or the indirect effect of promoting a tobacco product.32
Article 13 of the FCTC on advertising begins with the following declarative statement: "Parties recognize that a comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship would reduce the consumption of tobacco products." This, combined with the accumulating evidence that partial bans are ineffective, should cause regulators to push for comprehensive ad bans. The FCTC requires ratifying countries to:
All Parties are obliged to, at a minimum:
Parties also have the right to ban cross-border tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship entering their territory. In order to comply with their obligations under the FCTC, countries will need to make sure that their legislation applies effectively to new and emerging technologies.
Sources
1 WHO Press Release, "European Union Directive Banning Tobacco Advertising Overturned: WHO Urges Concerted Response", 5 October 2000; http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-64.html
2 Quoted in L. Heise, "Unhealthy Alliance", World Watch, October 1988.
3 Cheryl Perry, "The Tobacco Industry and Underage Youth Smoking: Tobacco Industry Documents From the Minnesota Litigation," Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 1999;153:935-941.
4 See for example N. Hafez, P.M. Ling, "How Philip Morris Built Marlboro into a Global Brand for Young Adults: Implications for International Tobacco Control," Tobacco Control, Vol. 14 No. 4 (2005) and G. Hastings, L. MacFadyen, Keep Smiling: No-One's Going to Die, British Medical Association Tobacco Control Resource Centre, London, (2000).
5 See for example C. Lovato et al., "Impact of tobacco advertising and promotion on increasing adolescent smoking behaviors," Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 3, 2004; M.T. Braverman and L.E. Aaro, "Adolescent Smoking and Exposure to Tobacco Marketing Under a Tobacco Advertising Ban: Findings From 2 Norwegian National Samples," American Journal of Public Health, 1 July 2004; 94(7): 1230 – 1238; Keeler, et al. "US National Tobacco Settlement: The Effects of Advertising and Price Changes on Cigarette Consumption," Applied Economics, 36: 1623-1629, 2004; U.K. Department of Health, Effect of Tobacco Advertising on Tobacco Consumption: A Discussion Document Reviewing the Evidence, (London: Economics and Operational Research Division, Department of Health, October 1992) and Toxic Substances Board, Health OR Tobacco: An End to Tobacco Advertising and Promotion, (Wellington, New Zealand: Department of Health, May 1989).
6 R. Fielding, Y.Y. Chee et al., "Declines in tobacco brand recognition and ever-smoking rates among young children following restrictions on tobacco advertisements in Hong Kong," Journal of Public Health, March 2004, Vol. 26, No. 1; Pierce et al. "Does tobacco marketing undermine the influence of recommended parenting in discouraging adolescents from smoking?" American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 23, 73-81, 2002; Nicola Evans, Arthur Farkas, et al., "Influence of Tobacco Marketing and Exposure to Smokers on Adolescent Susceptibility to Smoking," Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 87 No. 20, October 1995; Richard W. Pollay, S. Siddarth, et al., "The Last Straw? Cigarette Advertising and Realized Market Shares Among Youth and Young Adults," Journal of Marketing, Vol. 60, No. 2, April 1996; U.S. Centers for Disease Control, "Changes in the Cigarette Brand Preference of Adolescent Smokers, U.S. 1989-1993," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, August, 1994.
7 National Cancer Institute, Changing Adolescent Smoking Prevalence, Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No.14, NH Pub. No. 02-5086, November 2001.
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13 CDC, "Changes in the Cigarette Brand Preference of Adolescent Smokers, U.S. 1989-1993," MMWR, (August, 1994).
14 Pierce, J. et al, "Tobacco Industry Promotion of Cigarettes and Adolescent Smoking," Journal of the American Medical Association 279(7): 511-505 (February 1998) [with erratum in JAMA 280(5): 422 (August 1998)].
15 Evans, N., et al., "Influence of Tobacco Marketing and Exposure to Smokers on Adolescent Susceptibility to Smoking," Journal of the National Cancer Institute 87(20): 1538-45 (October 1995).
16 American Cancer Society, UICC. The Tobacco Atlas, (2006).
17 Luk Joossens, The Effectiveness of Banning Advertising for Tobacco Products, 2nd Edition (UICC, July 2000); http://www.ash.org.uk/html/advspo/html/experience.html
18 Gerard Hastings et.al, "Evaluation of the Comprehensive Ban on Tobacco Advertising and Promotion in the United Kingdom: Initial Findings from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Survey," International Tobacco Control/The Centre for Tobacco Control Research, 2004.
19 Health or Tobacco. An end to tobacco advertising and promotion. Toxic Substances Board. Wellington, New Zealand, 1989.
20 Laugesen M, Meads C. Tobacco restrictions, price, income and tobacco consumption in OECD countries, 1960-1986. British Journal of Addiction, 86, 1343-1354.
21 Laugesen M, Meads C. Tobacco restrictions, price, income and tobacco consumption in OECD countries, 1960-1986. British Journal of Addiction, 86, 1343-1354.
22 Jha P, Chaloupka FJ. Curbing the Epidemic: Governments and the Economics of Tobacco Control, World Bank, Washington, DC 1998.
23 Saffer, H., and Chaloupka, F. "The Effect of Tobacco Advertising Bans On Tobacco Consumption", Journal of Health Economics, vol.19, 2000.
http://www.uic.edu/~fjc/Presentations/Papers/W6958.pdf
24 For example see "ASH Briefing on Brand-Stretching," (1998), http://www.ash.org.uk/papers/brand.html
25 Ross Hammond, Addicted to Profit: Big Tobacco’s Expanding Global Reach (Washington: Essential Action/SF Tobacco Free Coalition, 1998); http://www.essentialaction.org/addicted/
26 Veto of Anti-Tobacco Law, Case Analysis: Argentina, Philip Morris, 7 December 1992; http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?DOCID=2023333155/3160
27 Asaf Bitton, et al., Tobacco Industry Attempts to Subvert European Union Tobacco Advertising Legislation, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, 2002; http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=c...
28 See for example World Health Organization, Fatal Deception: The Tobacco Industry's 'New' Global Standards for Tobacco Marketing (2001) http://www.who.int/tobacco/media/en/fatal_deception.pdf and National Center for Tobacco Free Kids, A Long History of Empty Promises: The Tobacco Industry's Youth Anti-Tobacco Programs (1999); http://tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0010.pdf.
29 "1995/96 Adspend by Media," Media, 7 February 1997.
30 Media, 7 June 1996.
31 ASH U.K., "Banning Tobacco Promotion: Ethical and Civil Liberties Issues," November 1997
http://www.ash.org.uk/papers/ethics.html
32 Luk Joossens, "How to Circumvent Tobacco Advertising Restrictions," March 2001, UICC.