“Parties recognize that a comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship would reduce the consumption of tobacco products.”
-WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotions, and sponsorships are very effective at reducing tobacco use, especially among young people. Partial advertising bans, such as restrictions on billboards, only allow tobacco companies to find new ways to market their products.

Each year, the tobacco industry spends billions of dollars around the globe on advertising, sponsorships, and other forms of promotion. Industry documents reveal that the companies have carefully studied the habits, tastes and desires of their potential customers and used that research to develop products and marketing campaigns aimed at them.

Studies have shown that youth exposed to tobacco advertising are more likely to smoke and to smoke earlier. When tobacco advertisements directed at young people are released, use of those brands and the overall use of tobacco increases.

To undercut political support for strong marketing restrictions, tobacco companies will often offer to adopt voluntary codes of conduct which appear to offer significant concessions. However, these proposals are usually designed for public relations purposes, are rarely followed, and, once political pressure is reduced, are quickly ignored.

Both the World Health Organization and the World Bank recommend that countries prohibit all forms of tobacco advertising and promotion. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control – the international tobacco control treaty - also requires parties to ban advertising.

Many countries, including Finland, France, India, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore and Thailand, have restricted or banned tobacco advertising. Others countries have passed legislation banning tobacco advertising but are encountering difficulty in implementing the laws.

Related Information

Action on Smoking and Health (U.K.): Tobacco Advertising

Action on Smoking and Health (U.K.): Factsheet on Tobacco Advertising and Promotion

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids: Tobacco Advertising Around the World

Cancer Research U.K. Briefing on Tobacco Advertising

History of the U.K. Tobacco Advertising Ban

Tobacco.org: Tobacco Advertisements, primarily U.S.

World Health Organization Tobacco Free Initiative: Information on Tobacco Advertising

Cancer Research UK Briefing on Tobacco Advertising

Reports, Articles & Studies

Bitton, A, Newuman, MD, & Glantz, SA, Tobacco Industry Attempts to Subvert European Union Tobacco Advertising Legislation (2002)

Bjartveit, K, Norway: Ban on Advertising and Promotion, World Health Organization

Saffer, H, "Tobacco Advertising and Promotion," Tobacco Control in Developing Countries (2000)

U.K. Department of Health Reducing Tobacco Advertising and Promotion

U.S. Surgeon General’s Report section on Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (2000)