The New Straits Times, April 11, 1997
The World Health Organisation has warned that currently about one-third of the deaths per year caused by tobacco are in developing countries. But if the present trend continues, by 2020 there will be approximately 10 million deaths per year, with 70 per cent of those in developing countries.
For s it would be ironic because Malaysia then would have been a fully-developed nation - maybe only in terms of economic status, and not healthwise. As such something drastic must be done right now.
At present, our economic indicators are something to be proud of, but our health indicator specific to tobacco-related illness is showing the reverse. One of the reasons why such a trend is persisting could be tied to the power exerted through advertising by tobacco companies, be it direct or indirect.
The tobacco industry can be expected to deny this. It has been claiming that its advertising is not intended to persuade children or for that matter adults to take up smoking; rather it is to persuade smokers to change brands.
However, two research papers published recently in the British Medical Journal suggest otherwise. Both studies indicated that advertising by tobacco company does in fact lead to the likelihood of children experimenting with cigarettes. This would be of interest to Malaysians because cigarette brand advertisements are quite rampant in our country.
One of the studies published was conducted in the United Kingdom involving 1,450 children aged one or two years old. The study showed that those children who were aware of brand advertising were more likely to take up smoking. For a start they would initially smoke any brand of cigarette available to them.
The other study was conducted in India where a cigarette company sponsored a series of international cricket matches on television. This, according to the authors, appeared to have influenced children of 13-16 years of age to start smoking. Some eight per cent of those who watched the matches on television tired smoking compared to five per cent who did not.
These are interesting findings for Malaysian society in view of the daily cigarette brands advertisements over the media. Moreover, according to a recent article in Investors Digest, cigarette manufacturers contribute the biggest amount to the advertising industry annually.
In one independent survey, it is estimated that advertising revenue generated from tobacco companies amounted to more than RM100 million out of the RM1.4 billion in total revenue for 1003. And some RM82 million was spent on advertisements in newspapers, magazines and other print media. The overall figure of RM100 million may be underestimated because according to an NST report (May 4, 1992), in 1990 alone more that RM88 million was spent on TV advertisements, with three tobacco companies spending an average of more than RM1 million a year. No wonder our TV stations are said to be collecting as much as 40 per cent of their revenue from tobacco companies.
One may argue that tobacco advertisements in Malaysia are largely indirect, highlighting only brand names. And therefore they should be allowed. But advertisements have a way of exerting a powerful influence, especially on young minds just through association.
Hence, it is not surprising to find in a preliminary study conducted by the National Poison Centre that many primary school-children were able indirect advertisements by tobacco companies to cigarette. There have been a number of other similar studies to support the same conclusion about indirect brand advertisements.
To add insult to injury most of these advertisements try hard to develop a somewhat positive image for the industry by linking it to sporting events, locally and internationally. In addition, such events offer the tobacco industry lucrative opportunities because of the size of the audience exposed to the tobacco messages - especially when they are telecast in the electronic media. It is therefore apparent that the tobacco industry used the sponsoring of sports and at times entertainment shows to complement and/or replace other marketing activities.
The seriousness of this 'deceitful' situation has resulted in a number of actions being taken by various parties. In New Zealand, tobacco companies are o longer allowed to use sponsorship to promote their brands and products to consumers. This is part of the ban on tobacco advertising contained in the Smoke Free Environments Acts, enacted by the New Zealand Parliaments since 1990.
It was with this in mind that last year's World No-Tobacco Day emphasised the theme 'Sport and the Arts Without Tobacco - Play it Tobacco Free!'.
But now almost a year later, many sports in Malaysia (and to a lesser extent the arts) are still dependent on tobacco sponsorship for their very existence as frequently portrayed in the media.
We should look ahead to the 1997 World No-Tobacco Day under the banner 'United For Tobacco-Free World' with greater conviction. This time we ought to be united in our fight to eliminate the smoking culture from our society.
For this to happen all parties - governmental and non-governmental alike - should show unwavering commitment. Without it there will be parties keen to exploit any differing opinions, making it yet another fiasco.
We should thus remain united in action and purpose, cease making contradictory statements and adopting double standards which in the past have been the weak link in our effort to create a truly tobacco-free nation.
