Tobacco ad promotion targets school kids

Anti-smoking activists have slammed an advertising campaign that offers junior and senior high school graduates discounts on buying packs of cigarettes at graduation celebrations in Jiangxi Province.

The Chinese Association on Tobacco Control has reported the campaign to central governments authorities, the association told the Global Times Monday.

Co-organized by the China Tobacco Jiangxi Industrial and its Nancheng county branch, the campaign aims to promote the sales of Jinsheng, a local cigarette brand, via a website targeting school students in Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province.

The website promises that at all graduation dinners in cooperating restaurants from June 25 to September 30, students will get one pack of Jinsheng cigarettes free for every pack they buy.

According to China's Law on the Protection of Minors, shopkeepers are forbidden to sell tobacco to underage children, although there is no age stated in China's tobacco laws.

Suo Chao, media officer for the association, said they reported the campaign to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Education and the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau on Friday after the advert was spotted on a tobacco website on Wednesday.

He added this is the first time they have had to report such a campaign to the authorities, as mostly tobacco businesses give direct donations to schools as a form of "social responsibility" disguised as advertising.

A survey conducted by the association showed that from January to April, there were 149 cases reported of donations from tobacco businesses nationwide to schools or community groups, 123 of which were to poor communities or Project Hope schools.

"Businesses are responsible to serve our society indeed. But these are more of an advertising activity than a charity campaign," Suo said, adding that such a campaign has violated the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control authorized by the World Health Organization, which bans any marketing moves of tobacco businesses.

Xiao Lin, a research fellow at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agreed with Suo.

"The main problem in China now is the cost for breaching the law is too low. Although the companies are restricted by advertising law, the punishment they receive is nothing compared to the revenue they get from these commercials," Xiao told the Global Times.

"Tobacco products should not be openly advertised because of its harmful effects on health. This company has gone as far as directly targeting minors. They are especially vulnerable and we all have the duty to provide a safer environment for them by pushing out these marketing moves," Xiao said.

Several local students reached by the Global Times said they had no knowledge of the promotion.

However, Xiao said that an increasing number of student smokers were spotted in some areas like Beijing and Shanghai together with rising sales volumes of cigarettes.

"The tax revenue from the tobacco industry may be huge, but it costs much more to pay for the nation's medical expenses," said Xiao.

According to the CDC, in 2011, 6.3 percent of minors smoked, and 23.1 percent have attempted to smoke.