WHO calls for comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising

May 30, 2008, 10:54 GMT

Geneva - The World Health Organization (WHO) called for a ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship Friday, calling them a 'poisonous web' aimed at ensnaring young people.

'The tobacco companies employ predatory marketing strategies to get young people hooked to their addictive drug,' said the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative Director Dr Douglas Bettcher.

Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, the WHO unveiled a new campaign urging governments to protect 1.8 billion young people worldwide, 80 per cent of them in developing countries, whom the tobacco industry has in its sights with its multi-billion pound advertising budgets.

Only 5 per cent of the world's population is covered by comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising and promotion, leaving 95 per cent of the world exposed.

A ban on one form of advertising simply led the industry to shift its 'vast resources' to another channel, the WHO said.

'The industry is like a mutating virus. If you leave a crack in the market they will slip into it,' said Bettcher.

Advertising bans had led to cigarette logos on clothing and shoes. 'They convert people into moving billboards,' he added calling on governments 'to break the marketing web.'

Research showed young people were heavily influenced by advertising. The younger they were when they tried a cigarette, the more likely they were to become regular users and the less likely they were to quit.

The industry was aggressively targeting young people to replace those who would either die or give up at a later age, said Bettcher.

Trends showed that use as many girls as boys smoked in contrast to adults where smoking was four times higher among men than women.

'There is a storm cloud on the horizon with young girls set to boost smoking rates,' he added.

'We could lose a billion people this century and these are needless deaths because tobacco-related deaths are completely man- made,' he said.