Health advocates call for total tobacco ad ban
June 1, 2013Tobacco Industry Interference Index Regional Report
June 5, 2013
THE World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) pushed its communications campaign with vivid death scenes all over the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) stations aimed at raising the awareness of citizens on the dangers of cigarette smoking.
Actually art installations vividly illustrating what tobacco companies do not want people to see, which is that smoking kills, the display of art in the MRT stations is part of a campaign called “Cause of Death: Tobacco” spearheaded by HealthJustice Philippines, in partnership with the Department of Health, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance and the New Vois Association of the Philippines, among other organizations. The campaign was conducted to celebrate this year’s World No Tobacco Day, commemorated on the 31st of May of each year.
World No Tobacco is celebrated annually to highlight health risks associated with tobacco use and, concurrently, in order to call for more effective public-health policies that will lead to reduced tobacco consumption. This year’s WNTD theme is dubbed “Ban Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorships” (TAPS).
“When you promote smoking, you promote death. It’s as simple as that,” said lawyer Irene Reyes, managing director at HealthJustice. “TAPS activities deceive and hide the truth from the public, making it seem as if smoking is glamorous and cool when the truth is that it kills one out of every two smokers. A comprehensive ban on TAPS will help in reducing deaths that would be caused by smoking.”
