Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”
(August 28th, 2015, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and New York, USA) – World Lung Foundation (WLF) today congratulates Brazil’s Alliance for Tobacco Control (Aliança de Controle do Tabagismo – ACT) on the launch of a new campaign, entitled “The disguise is over”, which uses mass and social media to call for stronger restrictions on tobacco marketing. Despite tobacco control legislation, the tobacco industry still targets youth in Brazil through marketing in retail outlets and through tobacco packaging; the campaign calls for this to stop. World Lung Foundation has provided financial and technical support for the campaign.
“The disguise is over” has been launched to coincide with Brazil’s National No Tobacco Day 2015 (August 29th) and a new report that demonstrates the extent to which the tobacco industry uses in-store marketing to target youth across 12 countries in Latin America. The campaign asks consumers to sign a petition at www.limitetabaco.org.br to show their support for Bill 1744/2015, which provides for the adoption of standardized packaging of tobacco products, without logos, design and promotional text.
According to the Brazil Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2010, 40 percent of Brazilians aged 15 and over recalled seeing tobacco advertising and promotions, after tobacco product advertisements had officially been restricted to inside venues of points of sale since 2009. Campaigns like “Be Marlboro” and promotions offering backpacks or headphones are used to specifically target youth. In 2014, the consumer protection agency of the Brazilian state of São Paulo fined Philip Morris International $480,000 for targeting youth with its “Be Marlboro” campaign.
“Most consumers remain unaware of the full extent of the tobacco industry’s tactics and how it deliberately targets youth to replace the smokers who die every year as a result of their habit,” said Sandra Mullin, Senior Vice President, Policy and Communications, World Lung Foundation. “This campaign will shine a light on the industry’s deceit and provide a platform for people to say no to big tobacco. Australia has blazed a trail in the adoption of standardized packaging to reduce smoking prevalence. Countries like Ireland, France, New Zealand, the UK, Canada and Chile have introduced or are considering similar legislation. Brazil has the opportunity to do the same. We are delighted to support ACT and urge Brazilians to sign this petition, to give youth the chance of a tobacco-free future.”
Paula Johns, Executive Director, ACT, commented: “In the pursuit of profit, tobacco companies deliberately aim to recruit Brazil’s children and young people into what can be a lifetime of addiction to a product that ultimately kills half of its users. In Brazil, tobacco kills more than 130,000 people every year – many of whom will have started smoking before the age of 18. Our campaign shows how the tobacco industry uses packaging and retail displays to attract children’s attention. We believe that standardized cigarette packs would help to protect youth and reduce the economic and health burden of tobacco in Brazil. We urge people to visit www.limitetabaco.org.br to find out more and support our campaign.”
Key Facts from the report “How the tobacco industry targets children and young people”
• “Power walls” remain the most important media for the tobacco industry. These are displays in retail outlets, where tobacco packages are displayed directly on walls. They greatly influence purchase decisions
• In Latin America, the purchase decision index at the point of sale is between 75% and 85% (Popai 2008) – i.e. most purchase decisions are made when the product is seen in the retail environment. This underlines the fact the point of sale is the tobacco industry’s main showcase for its products and communications
• In the United States, the tobacco industry spends more than 90% of its annual marketing budget in the retail environment. Tobacco companies spend more on merchandising, promotions and price discounts to wholesalers and retailers than the combined amount spent by fast food, soft drinks and alcohol companies.
About tobacco use in Brazil
The Tobacco Atlas notes that 16.6 percent of men and 11.1 percent of women in Brazil smoke tobacco. The proportion of women who smoke is greater than the average for middle income countries. In addition, 6.4 percent of boys and 6.3 percent of girls use tobacco daily. Again, the proportion of girls who smoke is greater than the average for middle income countries. This means that more than 555,000 children and more than 20,894,000 adults continue to use tobacco each day. Tobacco is the cause of 12.8 percent of adult male deaths and 9.4 percent of adult female deaths – this is a higher proportion of female deaths than the average in middle-income countries. More than 134,800 Brazilians are killed by tobacco-related diseases every year.
Research has shown that mass media campaigns are one of the most effective means to encourage people to stop using tobacco. Hard-hitting campaigns can compel tobacco users to quit, increase knowledge of the health risks of tobacco use, and promote behavior change in both smokers and non-smokers. It is one of the World Health Organization’s M-P-O-W-E-R (W=Warn) strategies to reduce tobacco consumption. MPOWER strategies are endorsed and promoted by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, of which World Lung Foundation is a principal partner.