en arguing for the right to advertise without restriction. The basis of this argument is that information about tobacco products should be freely available to the public, who can then make their decision whether or not to smoke. People who oppose this argument are apparently, therefore, enemies of freedom.
This argument does not take into account that:
ð The vast majority of people who smoke begin in their teens or as children. Most are confirmed users by the age of 15 or 16(176): they become users long before society accepts that they are mature enough to make decisions about issues like voting and driving. There is no guarantee that they will make a responsible decision about the use of an addictive, dangerous and costly drug.
ð It is reasonable for society, and especially children, to be free of advertising pressure to take up or use a dangerous drug of addiction.
ð Tobacco advertising is not informative for the consumer in any case. Tobacco advertisements seldom give information on price and do not include specific information on the toxic nature of the product.
Tobacco promotion in all its forms was banned in Canada during 1988. During the passage of legislation the Canadian Minister for Health, Jake Epp, commented that:
The responsible exercise of freedom of speech does not include the freedom to portray a lethal product as glamorous and socially acceptable.(166)
Another industry argument is that once tobacco advertising is banned, what will be next? Cars, sugar, alcohol, lollies? All of these things can cause harm; they will be the next target of an intrusive and over-regulating government -- the 'nanny state'.
The argument overlooks the fact that there is no threshold of safe use for tobacco products, whereas the other products listed are dangerous only when abused.
On balance, there is no doubt that advertising has some effect on influencing uptake of smoking among children, and on this basis, should be discontinued. The most compelling industry defence of advertising -- that to deny them the 'right' of advertising denies the consumer important product information -- is fatuous, given the dearth of useful product information typically provided by tobacco advertising, particularly sponsorship.