To offset the drop in tobacco consumption in rich countries, the tobacco industry has deployed aggressive marketing strategies in poor countries.
Smoking drops in rich countries? Never mind ! The cigarette industry is preparing its counterattack. To ensure her old age, she has set her sights on a new prey: the young poor.
In its latest newsletter, the World Health Organization provides an analysis of the marketing strategies deployed by tobacco companies around the world. Experts show in this study that people who live in poor countries are exposed to more aggressive forms of tobacco marketing than those who live in rich countries. The sales strategies are aimed in particular at the youngest.
81 times more ads in India than in Sweden
Advertising is therefore most intense in low-income countries. For example, in India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe, researchers observed 81 times more tobacco ads than in high-income countries such as Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Sweden.
For this work, scientists notably asked nearly 12,000 people if they recalled seeing any form of tobacco marketing in different media in the past six months. It is from their response that they were able to measure the marketing strategies of manufacturers.
This is the first time in ten years that the WHO has attempted a statistical comparison of the levels of tobacco marketing in a wide range of countries. In 2005, countries that signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control had to adopt strict tobacco control measures, including a ban on certain marketing practices. An evaluation had then taken place.
Deregulated marketing
“The results of the study show that a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship is one of the least adopted tobacco control measures by countries, especially low-income countries,” he said. WHO in its newsletter. However, four times as many middle- and high-income countries have adopted it as low-income countries ”.
The tobacco companies are using precisely this lack of regulation to distill their messages to encourage consumption. WHO calls on states to legislate to prevent them from implementing their sordid strategy, when tobacco-related diseases are the leading cause of preventable death worldwide.
Thus, experts predict that smoking will be the cause of 8.4 million deaths by 2020, 70% of which in developing countries, where around 900 million smokers live. These figures are expected to increase dramatically if the obligations of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are not quickly implemented.
In France, MEPs have just recognized the impact of marketing on consumption by legislating on the neutral package, which aims to limit the appeal of packaging, especially among the youngest.
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