Cameroon: The tobacco industry violates the law on advertisements

4 January 2016

To market as many tobacco products as possible, the Tobacco Industry (TI) is using a wide means of direct and indirect approaches which have as aim to, effect or similar effects of promoting a tobacco product or the consumption of tobacco.

With the 2006 law governing advertisements, the prohibition of advertisements in favor of tobacco products has been extended to all forms of advertisements, also the propaganda and actions of sponsorship in favor of tobacco brands and products. Unfortunately, the application of this law is interrupted by the tobacco industry, whom to recruit its new smokers, continuously violates this said law and develop communication actions around new materials(Banners, Facebook, retail sales points, cigarette package but also 15 billion images of tobacco products projected in movies every year and other audiovisual productions).Furthermore, during this end of year, new advertisement campaigns have been launched to pull the attention of new consumers and create more victims. The latest is that of the pasting campaign of the brand NYS-E-cigar. In effect, the brand of E-cigarette recently established in Cameroon, is subject of a vast promotion campaignin Yaounde town. The campaign deployed to popularize the brand is very significant within urban centers with banners of 2 x 3m.

According to members of the Cameroon Coalition to Counter Tobacco (C3T), this promotion is badly violating article 39 of the 2006 law regulating advertisements in Cameroon. While this campaign permits adolescent's seduction, very influential during this festive period of the year.

Due to its mortality and morbidity, tobacco constitutes a public health problem in Cameroon like the whole world. Each year, it is responsible for more than 6 million deaths in the world. If no immediate action is taken at the local and world level, the number of deaths will increase considerably in the next coming years. According to WHO, the advertisement in favor of tobacco, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco supplies this world epidemic?

It is for this reason that the Civil Society calls to action the government to protect Cameroonian youths from this poison that is tobacco.


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