The Health Ministry’s move to discourage smoking by banning the sale of loose cigarettes and raise the legal age for tobacco consumption from 18 to 25 might be good ideas in theory. But in theory alone. In practice, as any smoker or non-smoker would attest, they are likely to be impossible to implement.
Behind the proposed ban on loose cigarettes is the thinking that young people who subsist on pocket money would not be able to afford packs of 10 or 20. But the understaffed police forces in the country are unlikely to monitor the 7-8 million tobacco distributors to enforce the ban. It is also unlikely that the corner paanwalla will demand age proof to ensure those under 25 do not smoke.
While these moves might be inefficacious, the ban on cigarette branding that the Centre is considering might go some way. Health activists around the world believe in the merits of such a move. They say that smokers attracted to stylish packaging end up buying more cigarettes. In 2012, Australia mandated plain packaging, which requires that cigarettes be sold in drab covers with only the manufacturer’s name but no logo. Covering a big part of the pack, alongside the name, is a graphic image of a tobacco-related disease.
Many believe that steps like higher taxation and plain packaging need to be buffeted with a powerful anti-tobacco campaign if smokers are to be really convinced to kick the habit. A US government-funded anti-smoking ad campaign a few years ago prompted an estimated 1.6 million Americans to try to quit smoking and at least 100,000 likely succeeded.
Tobacco taxes and bans ultimately must go hand-in-hand with education and messaging. Here is a look at five powerful anti-tobacco ad campaigns from around the world that work better than any unenforceable rule.
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Behind the proposed ban on loose cigarettes is the thinking that young people who subsist on pocket money would not be able to afford packs of 10 or 20. But the understaffed police forces in the country are unlikely to monitor the 7-8 million tobacco distributors to enforce the ban. It is also unlikely that the corner paanwalla will demand age proof to ensure those under 25 do not smoke.
While these moves might be inefficacious, the ban on cigarette branding that the Centre is considering might go some way. Health activists around the world believe in the merits of such a move. They say that smokers attracted to stylish packaging end up buying more cigarettes. In 2012, Australia mandated plain packaging, which requires that cigarettes be sold in drab covers with only the manufacturer’s name but no logo. Covering a big part of the pack, alongside the name, is a graphic image of a tobacco-related disease.
Many believe that steps like higher taxation and plain packaging need to be buffeted with a powerful anti-tobacco campaign if smokers are to be really convinced to kick the habit. A US government-funded anti-smoking ad campaign a few years ago prompted an estimated 1.6 million Americans to try to quit smoking and at least 100,000 likely succeeded.
Tobacco taxes and bans ultimately must go hand-in-hand with education and messaging. Here is a look at five powerful anti-tobacco ad campaigns from around the world that work better than any unenforceable rule.
