Have you seen this?
Ardi Rizal has been smoking since he was 18 months old, and at 2 years smokes 2 packs of cigarettes a day. His father gave him his first cigarette.
According to the article in The Mail:
Ardi's youth is the extreme of a disturbing trend. Data from the Central Statistics Agency showed 25 per cent of Indonesian children aged three to 15 have tried cigarettes, with 3.2 per cent of those active smokers.
The percentage of five to nine year olds lighting up increased from 0.4 per cent in 2001 to 2.8 per cent in 2004, the agency reported.
Indonesia is the 3rd largest consumer of tobacco in the world. The government has been unsuccessful thus far in passing a tobacco bill to ban cigarette advertising due to opposition from the tobacco industry. Advertising appears to be the driver in this Indonesian explosion of kiddie-addiction. Tobacco Facts reports:
To date, tobacco industries in Indonesia have an almost absolute freedom to advertise their products in any form and through almost all communication channels. The marketing strategies transcend direct advertisement, promotion and sponsorships and resulting in creating smoking as a social norm to children and adolescents. The tobacco industry also promotes their good image through the corporate social responsibility activities.
Remember this guy?
I remember a study back in the 90's showing that more very young kids, age 5 or 6, could recognize Joe Camel than Mickey Mouse, though R.J Reynolds claimed that they were targeting adults. Joe was fired in 1997 and hasn't been seen since. So the indoctrination of very young future tobacco consumers via the kid-friendly camel ended and advertisers were on notice.
Undoubtedly, advertising restrictions and anti-smoking campaigns have played a large part in the reduction of teen smoking in the U.S. Smoking is not quite as cool at it used to be.
It's disturbing to see unregulated greed of the Indonesian tobacco industry luring children into a lifetime addiction. Maybe this video gone viral will shame their government into action.
Ardi Rizal has been smoking since he was 18 months old, and at 2 years smokes 2 packs of cigarettes a day. His father gave him his first cigarette.
According to the article in The Mail:
Ardi's youth is the extreme of a disturbing trend. Data from the Central Statistics Agency showed 25 per cent of Indonesian children aged three to 15 have tried cigarettes, with 3.2 per cent of those active smokers.
The percentage of five to nine year olds lighting up increased from 0.4 per cent in 2001 to 2.8 per cent in 2004, the agency reported.
Indonesia is the 3rd largest consumer of tobacco in the world. The government has been unsuccessful thus far in passing a tobacco bill to ban cigarette advertising due to opposition from the tobacco industry. Advertising appears to be the driver in this Indonesian explosion of kiddie-addiction. Tobacco Facts reports:
To date, tobacco industries in Indonesia have an almost absolute freedom to advertise their products in any form and through almost all communication channels. The marketing strategies transcend direct advertisement, promotion and sponsorships and resulting in creating smoking as a social norm to children and adolescents. The tobacco industry also promotes their good image through the corporate social responsibility activities.
Remember this guy?
I remember a study back in the 90's showing that more very young kids, age 5 or 6, could recognize Joe Camel than Mickey Mouse, though R.J Reynolds claimed that they were targeting adults. Joe was fired in 1997 and hasn't been seen since. So the indoctrination of very young future tobacco consumers via the kid-friendly camel ended and advertisers were on notice.Undoubtedly, advertising restrictions and anti-smoking campaigns have played a large part in the reduction of teen smoking in the U.S. Smoking is not quite as cool at it used to be.
It's disturbing to see unregulated greed of the Indonesian tobacco industry luring children into a lifetime addiction. Maybe this video gone viral will shame their government into action.
Yes, very disturbing. This child was also perhaps born nicotine-addicted, as is anyone whose mother smokes during pregnancy. He also appears to be overweight. Great double-whammy.
ReplyDeleteDon't count on Indonesia taking action. NPR reported this week it's also the world leader in deforestation too.