Banning Advertising, Sponsorship and Promotion

Tobacco kills nearly six million of its users each year. This means that, in order to maintain or
increase sales and profits, the tobacco industry must attract new customers to replace those who die or
manage to quit. To achieve this goal, tobacco companies spend tens of billions of US dollars each
year on advertising, promotion and sponsorship to sell their products. In particular, the industry
targets young people, and worldwide 78% of students aged 13 to 15 years report being exposed
regularly to some form of tobacco advertising, promotion or sponsorship (TAPS). Tobacco
companies also heavily target women and girls through TAPS.

Studies show that both direct (advertising) and indirect (promotion and sponsorship) approaches
increase the likelihood of people beginning or continuing tobacco use. Such approaches also mislead
the public by depicting tobacco as no different from any other legal consumer product, thereby
increasing its social acceptability. Moreover, the massive expenditure by the tobacco industry
strengthens its influence over the media and sporting and entertainment businesses.

Comprehensive bans required under WHO FCTC

Under the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), all Parties to the
treaty must institute a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship within
five years of the Convention's entry into force for that country. Article 13 of the WHO FCTC outlines
this obligation, and guidelines have been created to assist countries with implementation.

Evidence shows that comprehensive advertising bans lead to reductions in the numbers of people that
start and continue to smoke. Statistics also illustrate that banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship
is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce tobacco demand and can be considered a tobacco
control "best buy".

Despite effectiveness, most countries lack full bans

By the end of 2014, only 29 countries with 832 million people (12% of the world's population)
had passed a comprehensive ban. While this represents an increase from 9% of the world's people
covered by TAPS bans in 2012, it is still a relatively low figure, particularly considering the proven
effectiveness of TAPS bans.
The WHO European Region, out of all WHO regions of the world, has the largest percentage of
countries (77%) with a ban on national TV, radio and print media, as well as on some but not all other
forms of direct and/or indirect advertising. However, the European Region lags
behind most other WHO regions in terms of bans for point of sale and international media
advertising, and very few countries have banned the majority of all forms of direct and indirect
advertising. To date, only 13 countries in the Region (representing about 15% of the WHO European
countries) have implemented a ban on all national forms of direct tobacco

advertising and promotion. Only three WHO European countries have banned all forms of indirect
advertising. None of the WHO European countries has banned all international forms
of tobacco advertising promotion and sponsorship.