The Hindu Business Line : Tobacco, alcohol advertising

With the Marlboro ad campaign, advertising legend Leo Burnett used the masculine image of a cowboy to make filter cigarettes appeal to men. Even a ban couldn’t kill the campaign. But the Marlboro men Wayne McLaren and David McLean died of lung cancer, but not before McLaren could testify in favour of anti-smoking legislation. People smoke and drink for various reasons.

Hooch and other country liquors have great appeal despite the absence of advertising. Tobacco and liquor advertisements have little impact on the consumers.

T.V. Jayaprakash, Palakkad

T. R. Anandan, Coimbatore

I don’t think banning these ads will help. People get addicted to these habits due to unavoidable circumstances and once they get addicted, they find it extremely difficult to give up the habit. Even punitive laws have not yielded any results. Educating the youth about the disastrous side effects alone can help.

T. R. Anandan, Coimbatore

About 54 per cent of our population comprise youth who are less than 25 years of age. These youngsters should be restrained from consuming alcohol and tobacco.

In the absence of strict measures to limit the consumption of alcohol and tobacco, India’s ranking in the Human Development Index will fall. Though banning advertisements cannot be an enduring solution, youngsters must be educated about the ill-effects of these habits.

Advertisements induce only those with weak convictions. Only proper education will help make a difference.

K. K. Ammannaya, Udupi

Tobacco and alcohol advertising should not be banned as it will affect those people, including farmers, who are employed in these industries. However, there should not be excessive advertising of these products as it may induce people to drink and smoke, affecting their health badly.

Prashant Shah, Kolkata

Tobacco and alcohol should be treated on a par with drugs and the Government should have banned these ads long back.

RM Subramanian, e-mail

The Union Health Minister has stated that 40 per cent of health problems in India are due to the use of tobacco products and those addicted to tobacco and alcohol face early death. When such persons are the sole bread-winners, their families bear the brunt. If advertisements on tobacco and alcohol are allowed, it will worsen the situation. The appealing tobacco and alcohol advertisements will induce young people to take up the habit. Already millions of deaths occur due the consumption of alcohol and tobacco. In such a situation, if advertisements of these harmful products are allowed, it might lead to disastrous effects.

S. Nallasivan, Tirunelveli

Products and services that provide some relief and pleasure in today’s fast-paced world should not be banned. Banning these products will only enhance their appeal. These days, the youngsters are exposed to all kinds of media and banning the advertising alone will not make any difference. In fact, banning these ads will also affect the government’s revenue.

Y. K. Gupta, e-mail

Certainly tobacco and alcohol advertising should be banned, as already India is the largest consumer of whisky and tobacco. Last year, in 2007, Indians consumed 60 million cases of whisky pushing the US to second place. Larger number of Indians are smoking cigars and consuming tobacco in various forms. The ban on surrogate advertisements on television has affected liquor and cigar companies, which cost the broadcasting industry as much as Rs 250 crore a year. The real asset of India is its 600 million youth and if get addicted to tobacco and liquor, it will have a catastrophic effect on our country.

R. R. Gnanasekaran, Madurai

Apart from banning tobacco and alcohol advertisements, the government should prohibit even selling of these products in public places. As youngsters get influenced by the heroes from the movies, the Government should make use of the same media to educate the youth about their ill effects. The Health Minister was right in advising film-stars and celebrities not to glamorise smoking and drinking.

V. Venkitasubramanian, Kochi

Banning such advertisement will in no way help the people to get over their habit. On the other hand, it will only impact those people depended on these industries.

R. Swaminathan, Chennai

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