Stay Informed

Sign up for news & alerts

Already signed up?
Login here

take action
For every $1 states spend dollar sign on substance misuse and addiction, 94 cents go to shovel up the consequences instead of for treatment and prevention. TELL YOUR LEGISLATORS

What Can I Do?



Continuing Education
Free online courses for addiction counselors LEARN ONLINE

Get Help
Need alcohol or drug help for yourself or someone else? GET HELP

 
WHO Slams Tobacco Marketing to Youth
May 30, 2008

Share Share Email
Email
Print
Print
SubscribeSubscribe
News Summary

The tobacco industry deliberately targets children with advertising, warranting a complete ban on tobacco ads worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Fox News reported May 30 that the United Nations agency marked World No Tobacco Day by excoriating the marketing practices of multinational tobacco firms.

"The bombardment of messages through billboards, newspapers, magazines, radio and television ads, as well as sports and fashion sponsorships and other ploys, are meant to deceive young people into trying their first stick," said Shigeru Omi, the WHO regional director for the Western Pacific.

The WHO called on member nations to implement the advertising ban spelled out in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, noting that only total ad bans are effective because the industry takes advantage of partial bans by shifting their resources to alternative types of promotions.

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Posted by Quinton on 31 May 08 06:04 PM EDT
It is past time that all advertising for tobacco products are banned. It is also the height of insanity that the U.S. continues to subsidize the tobacco growing industry.

Posted by Frank Winkler on 02 Jun 08 09:57 AM EDT
It is indeed high time that the US stop subsidizing tobacco and take affirmative action to shut down this toxic industry. Greed, plain and simple, has motivated the tobacco industry since its inception, and one day, I predict, this nation will be held accountable for actively promoting and exporting a known carcinogen and killer. Foreign markets like China wholly embraced tobacco, only to now witness the grave consequences of the massive spread of lung cancer and more. How do we as a nation justify such product promotion when we already knew the many risks and had initiated action domestically to radically curtail its use? The World Court at the Hague may well have the oportunity to answer that question, and I don't think we will much care for the answer.

Posted by Doc Norman on 07 Aug 09 08:53 PM EDT
OK, I am NOT a proponent of smoking. That said, I can't BELIEVE you people are so out of touch with what's going on with these flavored cigars. Do you honestly think most buyers are actually smoking the cigar for the CIGAR? How lame are you? Sure, maybe underage people are buying these; but folks: THEY AIN'T SMOKING THE CIGARS! They are breaking them down, discarding the tobacco and using the flavored wrapper to roll SPLIFFS. OK - acknowledging your lame-o factor, a "spliff" is a term for an over-sized marijuana cigarette, frequently rolled in the shape of a cone (but not always),usually held at a 45-degree upward inclination (but not always) to prevent the loss of said aforementioned marijuana from the end of the spliff. Got it? Seventh-graders aren't making like Winston Churchill. They're making like Bob Marley. Bob Marley was - oh, never mind! Duuu-uudes...

SUBMIT A COMMENT:

Note: Comments are now held for moderator approval. More info

Name:

Comment:
(limit 250
words)
Enter this word
(help):		 Change

GUIDELINES: 
Please keep comments on-topic, courteous, clean, non-commercial, and within the word limit.
Read the complete guidelines