Twenty-seven percent young smokers have started smoking after being
inspired by cigarette advertisement in media and roadside billboards,
says a survey report. According to report of the Network for Consumer
Protection, the dangerous trend of attracting youth through
advertisement by the cigarette manufacturers continues as six percent of
the respondents said that they "intend to take-up smoking in future".
The survey was conducted through direct interviews with young adults between the age of 15 and 25 years. The survey aimed to assess the impact of tobacco advertisement on youth and their perception about various promotional campaigns by tobacco industry under its corporate social responsibility.
The incidence of smoking amongst the respondents was 36 percent. Among which forty percent were male and 13 percent were female. Ninety four percent of the respondents said that the main reason of their smoking was that they had seen or heard advertisement related to tobacco.
Electronic media was the most common media for seeing tobacco advertisements followed by billboards and cigarette sales outlets.
About impact of the advertisement, forty two percent respondents said that the message they had received through ads was that the smoking was an exciting activity.
The survey has also rejected the tobacco industry's claim that their advertisements are designed to convince existing smokers to change brands and not to initiate smoking. Contrary to 27 percent of youth who took up smoking after seeing ads, only 12 percent that had or wanted to change their brands after seeing tobacco ads.
Various studies have established the age of initiation of smoking amongst the youth as 14-20 years. The study also confirms this as the mean age of the smokers was 21 years and 22.5 percent had been smoking for more than five years, thus a significant population initiated smoking at the age of 17 years.
The study also analysed the impact of the campaign undertaken by the tobacco industry in Pakistan to support the government's efforts to ban underage selling of tobacco products. Fifty-seven percent respondents believed that underage selling restrictions do not work whereas forty-eight percent said that the underage ban means that it was all right to smoke after years of age.
The Network says that in the country, 0.1 million people die annually due to tobacco related illnesses, and around 1,200 youth in their teens take up this habit daily. The tobacco industry in order to maintain its market constantly needs new smokers. The advertising and promotion of tobacco products are mainly focused on young people, who the tobacco industry sees as the source of replacement smokers.
According to the tobacco industry itself, "Young people represent tomorrow's cigarette business. As this 14-24 age group matures, they will account for key share of total cigarette volume for at least the next 25 years". This was written by one of the industry executives, J. W. Hind of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, now owned by the Japan Tobacco in an internal memorandum during January 1975.
Having 36 percent smokers in the study sample is by itself a significant finding as it corresponds to similar prevalence in the entire adult population. But more alarming is the upward trend in the use of tobacco amongst the females compared to the national figures available that are estimated to be 9 percent by the World Health Organisation, whereas it stands at thirteen percent, as concluded by the study group.
The proponents of the study urged that enough evidence is available the world over that tobacco advertising is a major source of promoting youth smoking and partial bans have never worked in decreasing this trend. The government should immediately chalk out a roadmap to achieve comprehensive bans on all kinds of tobacco promotion in Pakistan. The increase in the prevalence of smoking in females also indicates that more needs to be done in terms of developing a comprehensive policy towards achieving a decrease in tobacco consumption in the country.
Resource: http://www.brecorder.com/top-stories/109-world-top-news/266387-police-question-suspect-in-london-tube-stabbing.html
The survey was conducted through direct interviews with young adults between the age of 15 and 25 years. The survey aimed to assess the impact of tobacco advertisement on youth and their perception about various promotional campaigns by tobacco industry under its corporate social responsibility.
The incidence of smoking amongst the respondents was 36 percent. Among which forty percent were male and 13 percent were female. Ninety four percent of the respondents said that the main reason of their smoking was that they had seen or heard advertisement related to tobacco.
Electronic media was the most common media for seeing tobacco advertisements followed by billboards and cigarette sales outlets.
About impact of the advertisement, forty two percent respondents said that the message they had received through ads was that the smoking was an exciting activity.
The survey has also rejected the tobacco industry's claim that their advertisements are designed to convince existing smokers to change brands and not to initiate smoking. Contrary to 27 percent of youth who took up smoking after seeing ads, only 12 percent that had or wanted to change their brands after seeing tobacco ads.
Various studies have established the age of initiation of smoking amongst the youth as 14-20 years. The study also confirms this as the mean age of the smokers was 21 years and 22.5 percent had been smoking for more than five years, thus a significant population initiated smoking at the age of 17 years.
The study also analysed the impact of the campaign undertaken by the tobacco industry in Pakistan to support the government's efforts to ban underage selling of tobacco products. Fifty-seven percent respondents believed that underage selling restrictions do not work whereas forty-eight percent said that the underage ban means that it was all right to smoke after years of age.
The Network says that in the country, 0.1 million people die annually due to tobacco related illnesses, and around 1,200 youth in their teens take up this habit daily. The tobacco industry in order to maintain its market constantly needs new smokers. The advertising and promotion of tobacco products are mainly focused on young people, who the tobacco industry sees as the source of replacement smokers.
According to the tobacco industry itself, "Young people represent tomorrow's cigarette business. As this 14-24 age group matures, they will account for key share of total cigarette volume for at least the next 25 years". This was written by one of the industry executives, J. W. Hind of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, now owned by the Japan Tobacco in an internal memorandum during January 1975.
Having 36 percent smokers in the study sample is by itself a significant finding as it corresponds to similar prevalence in the entire adult population. But more alarming is the upward trend in the use of tobacco amongst the females compared to the national figures available that are estimated to be 9 percent by the World Health Organisation, whereas it stands at thirteen percent, as concluded by the study group.
The proponents of the study urged that enough evidence is available the world over that tobacco advertising is a major source of promoting youth smoking and partial bans have never worked in decreasing this trend. The government should immediately chalk out a roadmap to achieve comprehensive bans on all kinds of tobacco promotion in Pakistan. The increase in the prevalence of smoking in females also indicates that more needs to be done in terms of developing a comprehensive policy towards achieving a decrease in tobacco consumption in the country.
Resource: http://www.brecorder.com/top-stories/109-world-top-news/266387-police-question-suspect-in-london-tube-stabbing.html
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