The Union health ministry on Thursday urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to take “positive measures” to prevent surrogate advertisements of tobacco or alcohol products, saying it is “disheartening” to see such promotions.
The director-general of health services Atul Goel, in independent letters to the BCCI and SAI, has suggested measures such as issuing directives to sportspersons under SAI’s ambit or cricketers under BCCI’s ambit to refrain from surrogate promotion, partnerships, or advertisements of tobacco or related products. Goel’s letter has also asked them to consider not promoting or advertising such products in stadiums or events hosted or partnered by SAI or BCCI.
“It is disheartening to see surrogate advertisements of tobacco and/or alcohol related products by some of the most well known cricketers and also famous actors during cricketing events such as IPL,” Goel said in his letter to BCCI president Roger Binny. “These personalities are role models for millions of youth across the country.”
India had enacted in 2004 a comprehensive tobacco control law, the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act (2003) (prohibition of advertisement and regulation of trade and commerce, production, supply and distribution) to reduce tobacco use. The act has led to a ban on direct advertisements of tobacco products and a ban on smoking in public places, among other measures. But tobacco control experts remain concerned about surrogate advertisements, intended to promote brand recall.
Goel, in his letter to SAI director-general Sandip Pradhan, said sportspersons are role models for society, especially (for) youngsters for promoting a healthy, active, and productive lifestyle.
Sections of public health experts have been concerned at what they view as surrogate advertisements featuring products with “elaichi” — or cardamom or other products that help promote brand recall.
Such surrogate products “raise brand awareness for products which companies legally sell, but cannot advertise,” Anoushka Saini, a medical student at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, had written in a blog published earlier this year in Nirvana, described as India’s public health platform.
Goel has also urged both the BCCI and SAI to consider signing an anti-tobacco declaration of interest among the measures to curb the surrogate advertisements.
“Such measures will not only help in reducing the consumption of tobacco especially among the youth but also reinforce a positive image of sportspersons as advocates of health and fitness,” he wrote in his letters.