Abstract
Comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising and promotion were introduced through tobacco control legislation in Viet Nam, but it has been established that violations of the bans are very common. This study was conducted to explore the trend in violations of bans on tobacco advertising and promotion at points of sale in Viet Nam in the past six years and to explore any differences in the violation situations before and after the Law on Tobacco Control came into effect on 1st May 2013. Quantitative data were collected through observation of violations of the bans on tobacco advertising and promotion at points of sale in 10 provinces throughout Viet Nam in four survey rounds (2009, 2010, 2011, and 2015). Variation in violation prevalence over time was examined by chi-square test using a Bonferini method. Binary logistic regression was employed to identify the factors that may have influences on different types of violation. A level of significance of p<0.05 was used for all tests in this article. The most common form of violation was the display of more than one pack/one carton of a cigarette brand. Violation of bans on tobacco advertising increased while violations on promotion ban and on displaying tobacco decreased through time. Some factors associated with the tobacco advertising and promotion bans included surveyed years, types of points of sale, regions and areas where the points of sale were located. The enforcement of the bans did not improve even after the issuance and the enactment of the Law on Tobacco Control. This suggests that the monitoring and enforcement of bans on tobacco advertising and promotion at points of sale should be strengthened. Penalties should be strictly applied for violators as indicated in the current tobacco control legislation.
Highlights
Advertising is defined in the Vietnamese Law of Advertising as “the employment of various means in order to present the public with the profitable products, goods and service; non-profitable products and services; organizations and individuals trading and providing the presented products, goods and services, except for news, social policies; personal information” (VN National Assembly, 2012a).Research studies have shown that the advertisement and promotion of tobacco products by the tobacco industry (TI) contributed to the increased number of smokers (Cummings et al, 1991)
Comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising and promotion were introduced through tobacco control legislation in Viet Nam, but it has been established that violations of the bans are very common
The results of the article showed significantly decreased trends in tobacco promotion and displaying in the four periods of time (Figure 1), it could be concluded that the number of violations of the ban “displaying no more than one pack/one carton of a tobacco brand” was still very high, and the results were consistent with those found in previous surveys (HSPH, 2012; Huong et al, 2015)
Summary
Advertising is defined in the Vietnamese Law of Advertising as “the employment of various means in order to present the public with the profitable products, goods and service; non-profitable products and services; organizations and individuals trading and providing the presented products, goods and services, except for news, social policies; personal information” (VN National Assembly, 2012a).Research studies have shown that the advertisement and promotion of tobacco products by the tobacco industry (TI) contributed to the increased number of smokers (Cummings et al, 1991). Other promotional activities at POSs are tactics of the tobacco industry, such as free coupons, free gifts/ samples, price discount, sample distribution of cigarettes, person-to-person promotion (Kin et al, 2010; Sinha et al, 2014; Huong et al, 2015) or promotional girls (HSPH, 2012; Huong et al, 2015) With these activities, the TI is trying to reach their various target groups among communities, such as women
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