Public Health Campaigns
Tobacco Atlas
Downloads
“The irony is that the tobacco industry uses images of health to sell death, while health organizations use images of death to sell health.”
-Yussuf Saloojee, World Lung Conference, CapeTown, 2007
Charts and Facts
“No sensible, ethical person will take money from drug dealers for a youth programme to prevent drug abuse. No one . . . would accept money from child pornographers to teach children about sexual harassment. So why should governments . . . accept money from the tobacco industry to teach young people not to smoke?”
-World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office, Tobacco Free Initiative, 2002
“No one should welcome the tobacco industry’s youth anti-smoking campaigns,a cynical attempt to make smoking seem more grown up and even more appealing to youth.”
—Tobacco Free Kids and ASH UK, 2001
“A hallmark of all [tobacco] industry designed efforts is the absence of the most effective tools for combating youth tobacco use.”
—Tobacco Free Kids, 2005
WHO World No Tobacco Day campaign themes
| 1988 | Tobacco or Health: Choose Health |
| 1990 | 1990 Women and Tobacco |
| 1990 | Growing Up Without Tobacco |
| 1991 | Tobacco in Public Places and on Public Transport |
| 1992 | Tobacco at the Workplace |
| 1993 | Health Services, including Health Personnel, Against Tobacco |
| 1994 | The Media Against Tobacco |
| 1995 | The Economics of Tobacco |
| 1996 | Sports and the Arts Without Tobacco |
| 1997 | “United for a Tobacco-Free World” |
| 1998 | Growing Up Without Tobacco |
| 1999 | Cessation |
| 2000 | Tobacco Kills, Don’t Be Duped |
| 2001 | Secondhand Smoke Kills. Let’s Clear the Air |
| 2002 | Tobacco-Free Sports: Play It Clean |
| 2003 | Tobacco-Free Film/Tobacco-Free Fashion |
| 2004 | Tobacco and Poverty |
| 2005 | Health Professionals Against Tobacco |
| 2006 | Tobacco: Deadly in Any Form or Disguise |
| 2007 | Smoke-Free Environments |
| 2008 | Tobacco-Free Youth |
| 2009 | Tobacco Health Warnings |
Youth prevention programs
Effective versus ineffective measures. Campaigns sponsored by the tobacco industry tend to be ineffective.
| Likely to be effective
If framed within a comprehensive tobacco control program |
Likely to be ineffective
Establishes youth prevention and education as stand-alone issues |
|---|---|
| Does not position smoking and tobacco use as a “grown-up activity” but something that affects all ages | Positions tobacco as “adult” and forbidden.
Advocates messages such as:
|
| Supports tobacco tax increases | No mention of tobacco tax increases |
| Supports total advertising bans | Stresses peer pressure as the main cause of teen smoking, without acknowledging the role of advertising and promotion, especially those targeted at youth |
| Supports comprehensive smoke-free areas | Ignores the issue of smoke-free areas |
| Bans display of tobacco products (e.g., as in Thailand). Limiting the distribution channels (some store chains/pharmacies stopped selling tobacco) | Emphasizes restriction of access to tobacco products to youth through ID cards, signs prohibiting sales to minors, policies to raise the age limit for tobacco sales |
| Emphasizes that nicotine is addictive | Depicts smoking as an “adult choice” |
| Discusses risks associated with smoking to people of all ages | Depicts “youth smoking” as the only problem |
| Addresses cessation among all smokers, young and adult | Does not address cessation at any age |
