An Analysis of the Difficulties in Enforcing Tobacco Advertising Bans

This essay delves into the multifaceted challenges associated with enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, a critical public health measure. It highlights the significant obstacles, including the substantial economic benefits derived from tobacco production and consumption, which generate considerable tax revenues for numerous countries, particularly developed nations. The essay also examines the powerful political influence exerted by the tobacco industry, which often shapes legislative outcomes and undermines strict advertising regulations. Furthermore, it explores the industry's adept use of alternative marketing platforms, such as the internet, to circumvent advertising bans, alongside legislative loopholes that further impede enforcement. The lack of adequate resources and tools in many countries, especially developing nations, compounds these difficulties. The essay underscores the need for comprehensive bans encompassing all advertising channels, including online platforms, and the importance of addressing economic, political, and resource-related challenges to effectively curb tobacco use and protect public health.

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Difficulties Enforcing the Ban on Tobacco Advertising
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Why is it so difficult to ban tobacco advertising?
According to facts and figures from the World Health Organization, one of the single-
largest preventable causes of death in today’s world is diseases related to tobacco. The diseases
account for nearly 6 million deaths per year; on average, that is a life lost every 5-6 seconds. The
total count of deaths from tobacco consumption barely matches malaria, tuberculosis, and
HIV/AIDS combined (WHO, 2018). The disease incidence and the number of fatalities warrant
the adoption of effective ways to counter the increased tobacco usage. The tobacco industry has
been an active player in the promotion of tobacco consumption thereby heightening morbidity.
Advertisement forms the front line of the whole tobacco industry’s shot at maintaining and
increasing the customer base by normalizing the use of tobacco. Marketing a product that has the
potential to wipe out close to half of its consumers calls for exceptional marketing strategies, and
the tobacco industry stands out as one of the highly manipulative product promoters in the world.
It remains challenging to ban tobacco advertising due to the economic benefits of the product,
political holds, alternate marketing platforms, legislative loopholes, and lacking resources and
tools. Therefore, this essay will build an argument around the problems of banning tobacco
advertisements in the developing countries.
Tobacco advertisement raises consumption levels in various ways; mainly, it encourages
children and young adults into smoking. It stimulates users to increase usage by reducing their
desire and willingness to quit, pushes former users to resume consumption, and creates
environments in which the use of tobacco is considered acceptable. On that note, any public
program tailored to counter tobacco usage is challenged by opposing lobbying efforts from the
tobacco industry that seek to undermine the efforts of the program. The industry spends more

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than $10 Billion worldwide every year on advertisements. By using highly sophisticated ways of
advertisement, tobacco firms link their products with both success, glamour, and fun (Awan et
al., 2018). The outcome is devastating for the world, with fresh users, mainly women and youths
being lured into addiction. In many nations, including the developed ones, tobacco promotion is
done in places and channels easily accessible by large populations. They include but not limited
to the internet, movies, music events, fashion magazines, and sports events. Advertisements also
aid in reassurance of preexisting users by creating an environment where smoking is viewed as
typical social behavior. The many forms of advertisement around the world create mindsets that
tobacco is just like any other ordinary product, which is to be consumed as intended by the
manufacturer. As outlined in Article 13 of the World Health Organization Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a complete ban on both indirect and direct advertising
on tobacco has the potential to considerably counter tobacco usage (Pötschke-Langer, Schotte
and Szilagyi, 2015). To be successful at protecting the people, the bans on advertising ought to
be thorough and applicable to all categories of marketing.
Notwithstanding the outcomes of its use, tobacco has economic benefits hence making it
difficult to enforce the ban on advertising. World economies stand to gain from activities linked
to tobacco production and consumption. The tobacco industry produces high tax revenues for
many nations, especially the developed ones. Australia, for instance, income generated from the
tobacco industry accounts for close to 8 billion a year in revenue collections (Crosbie, Sosa and
Glantz, 2017). If tobacco production is outlawed altogether, many nations stand to lose large
amounts of tax revenue.

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Additionally, tobacco distributors and producers remit corporate taxes, and the employees
in the industry remit income taxes. In line with the economic benefits, it appears as though the
income generated from tobacco usage, the industry and the employees surpass the costs of
healthcare-associated with its widespread use. The tobacco industry and its economic allies
employ economic analysis in their arguments against enforced control on tobacco production and
usage. The two parties stress that the enforced measures would result to decline in tax income
and the welfare of tobacco farmers. These same points are globally used to promote tobacco
production and usage (Keklik and Gultekin-Karakas, 2018).
Many nations, especially the large producers (an example is China) of products from
tobacco, worry that the ban on tobacco advertisement would indirectly affect its production
leading to losses of jobs in the sector. The Chinese government has banned advertising on radio,
print, and television and requires outdoor advertisements to be approved beforehand. Managed
by the government, the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC) of China is the world’s
biggest producer of tobacco products. The corporation employees a fairly big Chinese
population. It is argued that advertisements and policies against usage negatively impact
production eventually leading to loss of jobs every year (Li, Ma, and Xi, 2016). In the wake of
job losses and loss of revenue, the corporation has resorted to depending on outdoor
advertisements especially in entertainment hubs.
Most of the developed and developing nations are failing to enforce the ban on tobacco
advertising due to political holds surrounding the tobacco industry. In line with advertisement,
strict policies are yet to be fully enacted intentionally. It is observed that the tobacco industry is
making its operation environment favorable by influencing legislators; by doing so, they stand a

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chance as far as minimizing the restrictions on tobacco advertisement is concerned. Literature
solidly stresses that firm policies on tobacco are key towards a comprehensive move to curb the
economic and health effects of tobacco consumption (Hosler et al., 2016). In line with the ban on
tobacco advertisement, legislators are at the forefront in determining the policies to be enacted
and maintained. Yet, little is known about the forces that push the elected members into either
opposing or supporting the policies. Various health researchers have included political ideologies
in their researches on legislative results linked to control on tobacco consumption. In this
context, the concept of political ideology seeks to find out whether the overall health
responsibility lies with an individual, the society or whether the government bears responsibility
in regulation of commercial activity and behavior. The ideological views that often come to play
in matters of health policies appear to conflict with the government’s duty to intercede and
protect the health status of its citizens and an individual’s right to choices (Husain, English and
Ramanandraibe, 2016).
Much of what is known concerning ideology and control on tobacco usage is based on
reports that describe the arguments used to either oppose or support interventions of tobacco
control, such as a ban on advertising. Many years down the line, legislative debates on the
consumption of tobacco have majored on matters of individual freedom. The ban on tobacco
advertising remains challenged by the fact that the tobacco industry uses the arguments
remarkably more as compared to the proponents of tobacco control. The arguments focus on the
rights of smokers and the outcome of government intervention on the economy. In coverage of
tobacco issues in developed nations, the predominant line of arguments used by the tobacco
industry is tied to key value of freedom, autonomy to create, fairness and free enterprise. On the
other hand, the proponents of tobacco control present arguments that primarily focus on the

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value of health and fail to touch on the above-mentioned fundamental values ((Husain et al.,
2016).
Despite being developed, some nations are still lacking the tools and resources to counter
tobacco advertisements. Developing nations may not entirely have the capacity to fully enforce
the ban on tobacco advertising since resources are shared across sectors. How can taxpayers be
informed that a large portion of their hard-earned income is not directed to education, businesses
and startups, health (other areas of health), research and development, international
collaboration, transport, and technology? The extent of tobacco consumption and the much
craved-for success of the ban on tobacco advertising outstretches the available resources and
tools. The increase in tobacco consumption in developing and developed nations make adoption
of productive tools and ban programs costly initiatives (Husain et al., 2016). In the face of
preexisting economic strain and limited budgets, policymakers are forced to weigh whether
implementing a ban on tobacco advertisement generates revenue and decrease usage without the
ban program incurring much cost.
For years, nations such as Australia and Canada have been labeled as the darkest markets
across the world when it comes to marketing tobacco products due to legislative efforts. Despite
the situation, tobacco products are still being marketed. This situation stresses the
comprehensiveness of legislation needed to ban entirely the advertisement of tobacco and its
products. The current legislations have loopholes. While nations such as Australia are focused on
closing many of the line advertisement opportunities, the tobacco industry focuses on fresh
avenues for promotion by taking advantage of legislative loopholes (Scollo, 2015). The
industry’s advertisement strategies include inventive packaging and in-store displays. In the

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quest to address some of the advertisement strategies, the Australian government introduced bans
on retail display of tobacco products. In addition, nine years down the line, the government of
Australia formulated a bill that restricted advertising of tobacco products (the Tobacco
Advertising Prohibition Amendment Bill of the year 2010). The bill sought to make
advertisements of tobacco products via the internet and other electronic media avenues illegal.
Also, in the year 2010, the Australian government announced that from the year 2012 onwards
that it is a requirement for all products of tobacco to be plainly-packaged (Mcneill et al., 2017).
The plain mode of packaging of the products aimed at lowering their attractiveness, minimize the
industry’s delusive packaging, limiting promotion and advertising, and making health warnings
more effective. By the turn of the year 2013, Australia made headlines for being the first nation
to enforce the legislation on plain packaging on all products of tobacco. The move was lauded by
the WHO, leading to nations such as France and the UK enforcing the law on packaging. The
tobacco industry has made rigorous attempts to counter plain packaging with minimal luck since
many nations are already adopting the move.
Alternative marketing platforms are also making it hard to enforce a ban on tobacco
advertising. In the modern era, water is muddled, and many areas of advertising have been
intertwined. While efforts are made to enforce the ban on tobacco advertising, the internet
undoes nearly everything. The tobacco stands to gain from less regulated advertisements. Either
knowingly or unknowingly, the internet may be supportive of tobacco consumption when
individuals share video or photo posts related to tobacco products. For instance, an individual
may post an image while consuming cigarettes; in fairness, the image appears to serve as a
campaign. The WHO stresses the need to formulate and capitalize on strict legislative measures
for a more thorough effort in banning the advertising of tobacco. It is evident that the internet is

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an avenue by which the young population can get exposure to tobacco advertising since its use is
less regulated. Legislative amendments need to bring all electronic forms of advertising-by
electronic means or the internet- in alignment with other sets of preexisting legislation for other
media (Britton, 2017).
To conclude, it is evident that the ban on tobacco products advertising is under constant
challenge. From one side, the industry cites economic benefits, politics on the other, alternative
marketing platforms, legislative loopholes, and lacking the tools and resources. Many nations
around the world ban some form of tobacco advertising. However, comprehensive bans are far
more likely to work in their favor. Comprehensive bans would cover all channels of advertising
including a ban on undertakings of Corporate Social Responsibility and points of sale bans.
Globally, about 29 nations can attest to the positives of enforcing comprehensive bans since they
productive at countering tobacco advertisements and other promotional activities of the industry.
Successful enactment and enforcement of tobacco advertising ban call for determination from the
highest government levels (Jha, 2015). The resolution would be crucial at handling the expected
resistance from the entire tobacco industry, partner industries, and groups that benefit from
advertising expenditures. At practically zero cost, many governments are adopting the use of
large pictorial warning labels on tobacco products to inform the public about the health risks of
tobacco consumption thereby countering its use.

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