Gautam R.S., a postgraduate student, can recognise the bright colours on the banners of shops. He knows just by looking at these shades where his brand of cigarettes are sold. “I can recognise the exact shade of my brand. It has become easy now as most shops selling cigarettes have banners sporting the colours of the brands,” he said.
Many shops, bakeries and other outlets selling cigarettes and other tobacco products can be seen sporting either the colours commonly associated with the tobacco brands or advertisements of the products. This, social activists, claimed was only promoting use of tobacco products and was in contravention of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act. They pointed out that section 3 of COTPA prohibits any tobacco promotion and states that no person shall promote the consumption of cigarettes or any other tobacco product.
S.J. Chander, convener of the Consortium for Tobacco Free Karnataka, said a study, recently commissioned by the consortium to assess the compliance with tobacco regulations on ban of advertisements at the points of sale, showed large-scale violations.
The study found that nearly 29% of adults smoke in public places. A random audit of shops selling tobacco products revealed that 75.8% of them had product showcasing, while 50.2% of shops had boards displaying cigarettes, and 4.1% had dangles. He also said that the survey revealed that 89.3% of shops had boards displaying the brand names, 10.7% did not. Nearly 80% of the shops had advertisements extending to the full board.
He claimed that though the enforcement teams fine the shops displaying the advertisements, it was not having the desired effect. “Tobacco users are also lawbreakers. Though cases are booked and fines levied on tobacco users, it does not seem to be dissuading them,” he added.
Just last week, the west division police in Bengaluru filed 1,800 cases against people found smoking in public places.
Vishal Rao U.S., oncologist and member of the high-powered committee on tobacco control, government of Karnataka, told The Hindu that though improved awareness and better enforcement had resulted in a reduction of tobacco use among youth, a lot more still needs to be done.