UN Just Says No to Tobacco Ads Everywhere
Earlier today, the United Nations (UN) called upon governments around the world to ban all tobacco-related advertising, including promotions and sponsorship of events, as a means of deterring young people everywhere from taking up the habit.
The UN chose today, one day before World No Tobacco Day, to highlight the alarming smoking statistics issued by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO data indicates most smokers begin using tobacco before turning 18 but many of them are regular smokers by the age of 10.
Douglas Bettcher, director of the UN’s Tobacco Free Initiative, describes the tobacco industry’s marketing strategies as predatory and designed to get young people addicted to the drug. He says consumption has dropped by as much as 16% in some countries where the no-advertising initiative is already in place.
Tobacco advertising campaigns have gotten more aggressive in developing countries, where a government-mandated ban against such advertising is least likely to happen. Girls and young women are also the target of an increasing amount of tobacco ads around the world.
Bettcher calls for a total ban to eliminate the tobacco industry’s practice of merely shifting advertising from one resource to another. For example, when tobacco ads were banned on American television, marketing campaigns in magazines, movies, sports venues, and the internet became more aggressive.
According to a WHO survey, more than half of all teens around the world say they’ve seen a billboard advertisement for tobacco products within the past month.
Source: UN
[...] DC From a public health standpoint, the most important policy decision a nation can make is to deter young people from ever starting to smoke. Earlier today, the United Nations (UN) called upon governments around the world to ban all [...]
Once again, the WHO shows how much they truly despise freedom. Free, open societies should reject this nonsense outright. As a rule of thumb, whenever the UN or the WHO says one thing, I am compelled to urge or do the opposite. Even, or especially, when its in the name of “For your own good.” And another thing, does everything on God’s green earth need a day? And who declares these things anyway? I never voted for this “day,” its not a “day” that our fed or state governments approved of. So why do all of you in the media speak of this as if it actually exists?