Over 50 p.c. of pre-university Bangalore students are smokers - The HinduFebruary 18, 2009Nagesh PabhuRules to discourage tobacco use have had no impact on youth -At least 18 colleges had tobacco selling points-Many students influenced by peer pressureThe findings of a study, conducted by the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bangalore, this year, shows that over 50 per cent of pre-university (PU) students pursuing courses in arts and humanities are smokers.The rules and advertisements to discourage the use of tobacco products by the youth have had no impact on students in Bangalore.The study revealed that 58.9 per cent of students of arts and humanities, followed by 30.6 per cent and 10.6 per cent students of science and commerce streams, respectively, use tobacco products.The study was conducted in two stages in Bangalore’s 19 PU colleges on 1,087 students of first year PU (53 per cent) and second year PU (47 per cent). At least 18 colleges had one or more tobacco selling points within 100 yards of their campus. The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2005 prohibits sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of any educational institution. As much as 55.8 per cent of students said that peer pressure had influenced them to use tobacco products.More than 30 per cent said their teachers were smokers, while 31.74 per cent said that at least one parent used tobacco products. Cinema influence as much as 18 per cent felt the need to smoke or consume tobacco when they saw film stars smoking or chewing gutka in films, IPH’s Upendra Bhojani, who conducted the study under the guidance of the Institute for Social and Economic Change, told The Hindu.
Source: The Hindu

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health, and tobacco prevention efforts are everywhere. So why do so many teens continue to do it? Tobacco advertising may impact that decision more than we realize. We know that kids feel peer pressure from other kids in their everyday lives. But the teens and adults in cigarette advertising may be one of the most influential peer groups of all.

Targeting Teens

As they move into their teens, kids often feel insecure about their appearance and their popularity. Cigarette ads use these insecurities to make empty promises. Ads give teens the message that smoking can help them become attractive, desirable, and independent when the reality is quite different. Smoking can cause bad breath and yellow teeth, isolate teens from largely non-smoking peers, and possibly lead to a deadly, lifelong habit.

Toughness and Masculinity

Images such as the Marlboro Man equate smoking with a macho ruggedness that is appealing to men and boys. This theme mirrors the pressures many boys face to be “tough”. Boys may believe that smoking will give them the aura of coolness they are searching for.

Body Image and Femininity

Tobacco companies have specifically targeted women and girls for many years by associating specific brands with slimness. In fact, cigarette advertising often depicts smoking as a weight management tool. This plays into the cultural pressures to be thin that many girls and women experience.

Tobacco Companies Need Kids

There are several reasons why tobacco companies target children and teenagers. In order to keep profits up, new customers need to be recruited to replace the thousands of smokers that die each day. Tobacco companies know that very few people begin smoking as adults; therefore, their best bets for these new customers are kids.

Ads are often geared specifically for teens. They use colorful graphics and images that catch their attention. They run in magazines that have a large teen readership. In stores, cigarettes are often placed close to candy displays and other products popular with kids. Promotional giveaways and tie-ins to sports and music events also increase young people’s exposure to tobacco products.

All of this advertising seems to work. According to The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, most teenagers who smoke use one of the three most heavily advertised brands. Tobacco companies realize that once a teen smokes their brand, they are likely to remain loyal to that brand for the rest of their lives.

Check out the tobacco industry’s latest shameful attempt in New Cigarette Targets Girls, and check out ways that you can help in the blog Kick Butts Day is Coming. Also see Teens and Alcopops for information on promoting alcohol to kids.

India is the third largest consumer of tobacco in the world. Its not cigarettes that majority of Indians prefer but bidis, which constitute 70% of the tobacco smoked.

Bidis are more harmful then cigarettes, as they give more toxins like carbon monoxide, ammonia, phenol and hydrogen cyanide and contains more tar and nicotine than conventional cigarettes. So it causes more damage to the body then a cigarette.

Less tax on Bidis, more deaths

Smoking bidi is a growing menace in India with 100 million people smoking bidis, and 6 lakh deaths caused every year. The younger generation try bidi under the belief that its less harmful, since its cheap and has no warning label. Many a times, tobacco used in bidis may be mixed with flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, clove or pineapple to make them attractive to youth.

Bidis are smoked primarily by men, especially in rural areas, and are rolled by women, often in their homes. Since it provides large-scale employment, bidis are under-taxed compared to cigarettes.

A roller can make about 1,000 bidis a day and is paid Rs 40 to Rs 80 for the day’s work. But 10% of all female bidi workers and 5% of all male bidi workers are children under 14, and nearly 50% of these workers ultimately die of tuberculosis or asthma.

Tax on bidis are currently just one-twelfth of the tax levied on non-filter micro cigarettes (purchased by the poor) and just 2% of the tax on more expensive standard filters cigarettes.

But if the price of a pack of bidis was doubled from about Rs 4 to Rs 8, or if the excise duty was at par with other tobacco products it can reduce the consumption of tobacco.

In 2005, the then I&B Minister, Jaipal Reddy, said, “A cinematic classic like Shatranj ke Khiladi cannot be made without the hookah,” proposing an exemption for films based on literary classics.

This was followed by the health ministry’s proposal to ban smoking in films by notifying the Cigarette and Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Rules 2005.

Despite, evoking the much debate on creative expression, the central government notified the ban in October 2006. But, director Mahesh Bhatt challenged the ruling in Delhi High court, and he was supported by many filmmakers. 

And, to their relief, in January 2009, the Delhi High Court quashed the central government’s notification banning on-screen smoking on grounds that it violates the fundamental rights of filmmakers. 

A single judge bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, said, “Banning smoking in films violated filmmakers’ fundamental rights of freedom of expression and speech as enshrined in the Constitution of India. Also, the film directors should not have multifarious authorities breathing down their necks when indulging in a creative act.” 

It is felt that in addition to creative expression, films depict reality of life and smoking plays a vital role in our daily lives. However, if there is a fear that such films will have a negative impact on young minds, then the decision to allow smoking or not in certain films, should be left to the Censor board. This clearly calls for responsible display of smoking and tobacco consumption in films.

Besides, constitutional or not, one cannot make Devdas without a bottle of alcohol in his hands or the modern day Dev D, without a puff of smoke. But, yes the ministry is not completely wrong with it tries to urge all of us to kick the butt on a more personal front. 

Lets take a look at some popular actresses smoking in Hollywood movies. This is not just used as advertisement techniques for a particular brand but to lure teenagers to this vice.