Comprehensive Ban on Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship

Abstract

Marketing and promotion increase tobacco sales by encouraging current smokers to smoke more and decreasing their motivation to quit. Marketing also encourages potential users, young people specifically to try cigarettes and become long-term customers. The key point of Article 13 of WHO FCTC is to undertake a comprehensive ban all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) within 5 years after ratifying the treaty. The Chinese Advertising Law promulgated in 1994 were obvious deficiencies compared with WHO FCTC. However, tobacco industry has been impeding the revision of national laws to reserve room for TAPS. Eight types of prevalent tobacco advertising in China are summarized: disguised forms of tobacco advertising or promotion in media, outdoor cigarette advertising, the displays at the Point Of Sale, grand scale gathering for brand recommendation and product presentations, tobacco advertising at internet and new media, cigarette packaging as advertising and production and distribution of items that resemble cigarettes such as sweets and toys. The tobacco industry often participates in sponsorship such as education, scientific research, sports, music, cultural, social events and public education campaigns in the name of social responsibility. Over 100 Tobacco Hope primary schools is a typical case. Surveys in 2009–2015 showed extremely high exposure to TAPS among urban population, especially among teenagers. To promote comprehensive ban all forms of TAPS, a lot of public health advocacy campaigns have been carried out over past 10 years. The amended Advertising Law and the other regulations have come into force successively, most form of TAPS have been banned up to 2015.