Switzerland has a lot of catching up to do: In terms of tobacco advertising, it lags far behind most European countries. Even the draft of the new Tobacco Products Act still leaves too many opportunities for the tobacco industry to boost consumption.

Tobacco is not a product like any other: Nicotine is the second most addictive substance after heroin. Every year 9000 people die in Switzerland due to smoking. In addition, economic and social damages of 10 billion Swiss francs per year are caused. It is therefore in Switzerland's interest to stop the advertising and promotion of such a product. The effect of advertising especially on young people today is no longer
contested. 48% of current smokers started smoking daily as minors. It is also not enough to prevent only advertising aimed directly at young people, because young people are oriented precisely to images of the adult world. Addiction Switzerland is therefore calling for a comprehensive advertising ban on tobacco products.

The new federal tobacco products law is a historic opportunity to ban advertising and sponsorship. Addiction Switzerland regrets that the draft law leaves large loopholes open and thus still gives the tobacco industry too many advertising opportunities. The advertising money would thus only be shifted to other places. Sponsorship of national music festivals or sporting events remains possible, as does advertising in retail outlets.

In terms of tobacco advertising, Switzerland is one of the worst performers in Europe. Besides Andorra and Liechtenstein, Switzerland is also the only country on the continent that has not yet ratified the WHO Tobacco Convention. This convention, a reference in tobacco prevention, calls for a comprehensive ban on all forms of advertising and sponsorship. For example, most European countries now restrict tobacco sponsorship. Some states ban advertising
at the point of sale entirely.

Our country's large backlog results in part from the influence of international tobacco industry headquarters in Switzerland on trade associations and the federal government. This is the only way to explain the fact that the Federal Council still tries to "balance public health and economic freedom" in the draft law. But economic freedom in an area that causes 9,000 deaths and 10 billion francs in damage to the economy and the population simply has no legitimacy.

Tobacco advertising: expenditure and impact

The draft of the new Federal Law on Tobacco Products provides for the prohibition of tobacco advertising in the future only on posters, in cinemas, in print media as well as on electronic carriers. However, these restrictions hardly lead to a decrease, but rather to a shift in marketing activities, as past practice has shown: Following the ban on billboard advertising in most cantons, tobacco companies' advertising has shifted to music festivals and tobacco outlets: spending on billboard advertising has fallen from CHF 44 million to CHF 6 million since 2000, while presence at festivals, nightclubs and outlets has expanded to.

However, sponsorship of events with national significance will still be allowed under the draft law, even if internationally renowned artists participate.
Tobacco companies now appear at music festivals with booths and platforms, they organize attractive games and contests aimed mainly at teenagers and young adults, as evidenced by the Observatory of Tobacco Products Marketing Strategies of CIPRET-Waadt. This is because two-thirds of today's smokers started smoking daily up to and including the age of 19. Adults are far less likely to be persuaded to smoke by the tobacco companies. However, according to the CIPRET research, most festivals could do without tobacco money.

The federal bill would continue to allow advertising at retail outlets. As the Observatory of CIPRET showed in another study, today cigarettes are massively advertised at kiosks and gas station stores. The tobacco industry invested about half of the marketing dollars at the point of sale in 2007. According to a study by Lisa Hendriksen and colleagues at Stanford University, young people exposed to such advertising are much more likely to start smoking.

 

Source:https://www.pressemeldungen.com/2014/08/07/schweiz-ist-zu-nachlaessig-in-sachen-tabakwerbung-bild/