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Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) with cross-border impact must be part of the comprehensive bans required under Article 13 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). A combination of strong domestic laws and integrational cooperation shows the most promise in limiting cross-border TAPS exposure. Parties to the WHO FCTC are required to report on their progress in implementing Article 13 provisions, and detailed information on which Parties have adopted bans, restrictions and penalties for the cross-border area is available. Additionally, Parties are also asked to report on whether they have taken steps to cooperate on cross-border advertising; currently, only 49 (27%) of Parties say they do this.
TOBACCO CONTROL LAWS is a website maintained by tobacco control lawyers that provides easy access to laws and court decisions from around the world, as well as summaries, fact sheets and legal analysis. Tobacco control laws from 210 countries are available on the site, as are summaries, analyses and policy fact sheets to assess how tobacco control measures compare to the obligations in the WHO FCTC. Users are able to search for exemplary polices that regulate TAPS, including cross-border TAPS: https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/
European Commission
The Tobacco Advertising Directive (2003/33/EC) introduced a European Union-wide ban on cross-border tobacco advertising and sponsorship in the media other than television. The ban covers print media, radio, the Internet and sponsorship of events, such as the Olympic Games and Formula One races, involving several European Union (EU) countries. Free distribution of tobacco is banned in such events. The ban covers advertising and sponsorship with the aim or direct or indirect effect of promoting a tobacco product.
Tobacco advertising and sponsorship is restricted in the EU by the:
Tobacco Advertising Directive (2003/33/EC)
Australia
In Australia, restrictions on online advertising of tobacco products were introduced with the enactment of the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Amendment Act 2012 (Cth) (TAP Amendment Act). These laws were enacted due to ambiguity that existed as to how the existing TAP Act applied to online advertising and whether or not online advertising of tobacco products was permitted.
It is an offence to publish a tobacco advertisement online. There are, however, limited circumstances in which it would not be an offence to publish a tobacco advertisement online. The main circumstances in which a tobacco advertisement can be legally published online is where the advertisement is accompanied by facilities for the purchase of tobacco products and complies with the strict provisions on online point-of-sale advertising.
Given the international nature of Internet advertising, the TAP Amendment Act does not cover circumstances where the advertisement is published/uploaded from outside Australia and the publisher has no “Australian link” and has not acted jointly with or assisted another publisher with an “Australian link”.
Regulation of smoking in movies: India case study
The Government of India enacted the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 in May 2003 to discourage the use and consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products and protect children and youth from the harmful effects of tobacco use with the objective to achieve improvement of public health as enjoined by Article 47 of the Constitution of India. Section 5 of the Act prohibits/restricts all forms of advertisement (direct, indirect/surrogate) promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products. However, after the enactment of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act that comprehensively banned all forms of advertisement, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products, studies conducted from 2003 to 2005 revealed that there was an upsurge of films depicting tobacco use.
In order to address this challenge, the Government of India refined its rules to regulate depiction of tobacco products or their use in films and television programmes. These rules were initially notified in 2005; however, they were implemented in 2012 after several rounds of consultations and detailed deliberations with Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which is the implementing agency for the rules.
This policy, which India has pioneered, requires film, theatres and television channels to screen pre-approved anti-tobacco public service announcements (around one-minute films) and a disclaimer at the beginning and during the middle of programmes in which tobacco consumption is depicted; and include a health warning as a static message at the bottom of the screen while tobacco is in use onscreen. Moreover, any brand names of tobacco products, if shown, are ordered to be blurred out. The content is not certified as fit for public exhibition by the Central Board of Film Certification until such directions are strictly complied with.
This policy has also made free air time available for sustained mass media campaigns and may be regarded as a novel health financing mechanism.
Voluntary policies
Voluntary policies are not best practices endorsed by the WHO FCTC. Popular social media platforms have adopted policies that claim to ban tobacco advertising. However, these policies do not apply to political and corporate messaging ads sponsored by the tobacco industry, nor do they restrict tobacco companies from operating accounts on these platforms. There is no evidence that these voluntary policies reduce cross-border TAPS exposure.
Facebook and Instagram:
https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/
https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/prohibited_content/tobacco
Twitter:
https://business.twitter.com/en/help/ads-policies.html
TikTok:
Google also has an advertising policy on dangerous products or services and prohibits tobacco or any products containing tobacco, products that form a component of a tobacco product, products and services that directly facilitate or promote tobacco consumption, and products designed to simulate tobacco smoking. However, there are loopholes whereby these policies only cover paid advertisements and not embedded or free content, and tobacco sites may get around the policy by using creative keywords such as smoking information.
Tobacco advertising and sponsorship on television was prohibited in 1989 by the Television without Frontiers Directive (89/552/EEC). This Directive is now replaced by the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (2010/13/EU) which extends the application of this ban to all forms of audiovisual commercial communications, including product placement.
Although voluntary systems have not proven to be particularly effective at reducing tobacco depictions in entertainment media, in 2015, Disney announced that it would not depict cigarette smoking in movies produced by it after 2015 and distributed under the Disney, Pixar, Marvel or Lucasfilm labels, that are rated G, PG or PG-13, except for scenes that: depict a historical figure who may have smoked at the time of his or her life, or portray cigarette smoking in an unfavourable light or emphasize the negative consequences of smoking.
More information on the Directive can be found here.