On-screen tobacco tempting youngsters

Banning ‘nicotine propaganda’ from cinema screens and television would be a powerful tool in helping to end the ‘destructive business of tobacco’, according to a story in the Tehran Times.

Well-documented reports, the story said, showed that global tobacco companies earned hundreds of millions of dollars annually because consumers were impressed by the sight of superstars smoking, and because cartoon characters provided smoking models for youngsters.

Meanwhile, reports showed also that 52 per cent of young adults and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 would not take up smoking if the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting company instituted a widespread ban of scenes displaying tobacco smoking.

Psychologists and social workers believed that children could not resist tobacco-company messages put out through the mass media. Therefore, by banning tobacco propaganda it would be possible to help young people avoid trying such products and becoming the next generation of smokers, the story added.