Pan American Health Organization: Empowering Youth to Speak Out Against the Tobacco Industry
June 8, 2020
Par: chef-projet@dnf.asso.fr
Dernière mise à jour: June 8, 2020
Temps de lecture: 3 minutes
On the occasion of the 2020 edition of World No Tobacco Day dedicated to protecting young people from tobacco industry manipulation and preventing smoking, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) urged the need to empower children and adolescents to recognize, denounce and resist the techniques that this deadly industry deploys with the sole aim of replacing its deceased consumers.
“The tobacco industry needs young people to buy their products, which may result in nicotine addiction, so that they become long-term consumers. This creates the opportunity to replace the 8 million people worldwide who die of tobacco-related causes every year. It is a matter of profits over people — an indefensible choice. »[1] , said Jarbas Barbosa, deputy director of the Organization.
Tobacco manufacturers targeting the younger generation
In fact, 90% of tobacco victims became smokers before the age of 18.[2]. Succumbing to smoking in adolescence therefore appears to be synonymous with loyalty and also explains why this consumer segment finds itself particularly targeted in marketing strategies. With ever more devious ingenuity as legislation is strengthened, tobacco manufacturers are increasingly investing in the worlds of the younger generation to guide them towards addiction. By means of product placements in the film industry, concert sponsorships or even the recruitment of influencers in the social networks favored by young people, tobacco manufacturers do not skimp on giving their product a totally distorted image.
Helping young people fight back
With the noble intention of saving human lives, the World Health Organization (WHO) has not only popularized new educational materials for 13-17 year-olds, but also invited governments and civil society to redouble their efforts to counteract the influence of the tobacco industry. The objective is twofold: it is necessary to develop the knowledge of young people around the tactics deployed by the tobacco industry to trap them, and at the same time to ban more widely all forms of advertising, promotion or sponsorship of tobacco products so that the world of young people is depolluted by the deadly products and the popular image they benefit from today.
[2] https://otcra.fr/app/uploads/2018/10/CARTES-INFO-INTOX-DESINTOX.pd
