Tobacco Ads Backed By NS

The Commons health committee is putting the Government under intense pressure to place a statutory ban on all tobacco advertising, pointing to recent evidence which suggests that a ban would drastically decrease the amount of smokers, especially amongst teenagers.

In response to the Smee Report linking up cigarette advertising with numbers of smokers, the Newspaper Society has claimed that persuasion and education are the only ways to reduce tobacco consumption, with the belief being that a ban on tobacco advertising would be ‘contrary to the fundamental principle of freedom of expression’.

In a submission to the Health Secretary, Virginia Bottomley, the society pointed out the effect that an advertising ban would have on both consumers and the media, claiming that the emotional and political appeal of banning tobacco ads should be weighed up against an objective assessment of the social costs to consumers and the media – resulting in a loss of revenue which could have a direct effect on the consumer.

The health committee’s argument for the ‘before-and-after’ statistics are also discussed in the society’s paper, noting that in three out of four of the countries which measured the effect of banning tobacco ads other measures were also selected to reduce cigarette consumption at the same time, including price increases, health warnings and restrictions on smoking in public places.

The paper also points to judgements made in the Smee Report which tentatively sum up statistics meant to persuade the Government to ban all tobacco advertising. These include:

• it is ‘quite possible’ that some people are recruited to smoking by brand advertising
• advertising ‘may’ therefore have a role in promoting recruitment
• tobacco advertising ‘may’ encourage smoking by providing smokers with an excuse to play down the danger to their health.

In conclusion, the society believes the document does not provide enough evidence to prove a correlation between tobacco advertising and consumption to introduce a statutory advertising ban. Despite the health committee’s recommendation to the Government to support the proposed EC directive, the society is urging that it maintains its stance against such a ban.