Health activists are concerned about a vigorous advertising campaign to recruit more women smokers, particularly in developing countries Khadija Magardie Latest statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicate there are about a billion smokers worldwide – less than 12% of which are women. But, women’s health activists say, this figure is expected to mushroom rapidly in the next 10 years, due to what they call a deliberate, vigorous campaign by tobacco advertisers to “recruit” women smokers. What is more worrying, they say, is that the adverts appear more inclined towards women in previously untapped markets – in developing countries. At public hearings held by the WHO last week, the growing number of women who smoke and are addicted to nicotine was one of the issues highlighted. The South African-based Health-e News Service reported that delegates appealed to the WHO to “support measures to protect women from the persuasive images used in cigarette advertising”.
South Africa, particularly, has seen a proliferation of tobacco adverts featuring women – which appear to be following a carefully planned strategy. Nearly all the billboards and glossy magazine adverts (tobacco may not be advertised on television) associate a smoking woman with youth, sophistication, femininity, glamour and, most significantly, independence. The Johannesburg-based Women’s Health Project (WHP) has done extensive research on tobacco advertising campaigns and women in developing countries, particularly in Africa, and recently published an academic paper entitled: How to make tobacco control policies more gender sensitive. Using data collected in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Sweden and China, the WHP found that tobacco advertisers constantly promote the idea that smoking equals “emancipation” or “liberation” for women. One well-known billboard advertisement for a popular cigarette brand, which can be found on nearly every Johannesburg highway, features a young blond woman sitting on a park bench, with a lit cigarette in her hand. “Do I look like I’d cook you breakfast?” reads the caption. Another, for the same brand, has a young, big-busted woman stepping out of a shower, her body glistening and a faint smile on her lips. The caption: “Do I look shy?” According to freelance writer Ginger Otis, who has published work on the subject of women and tobacco advertising on the Internet newsgroup, Women’s Wire, it would be easy to dismiss the adverts as “typical”, were it not for the fact that the idea of equating women’s liberation and freedom with lighting a cigarette is still a new, potentially damaging image being flighted in countries unaccustomed to it. The adverts, she says, appear to be “frighteningly effective at convincing young women that it is cool to smoke”. The main problem of marketing cigarettes to developing countries is one of resources. With many countries in Africa devoting most of their health resources to fighting infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and, now, HIV, such countries often have what Otis calls “limited medical capacity and little infra-structure for early cancer detection, or other programmes to limit the harm of smoking”. According to the United States-based advocacy group, Tobacco Free, smoking poses various health risks to women that often prove more dangerous than to men. Women who smoke and use oral contraceptives, for instance, have an increased risk of strokes and cancer, as well as high risks of osteoporosis and cervical cancer. In addition, tobacco companies tend to market “light” brands to women – which have been proven to be associated with rare and potentially fatal tumors in lung tissue. Nicola Christofides, a researcher at the WHP, says it is becoming increasingly evident that tobacco adverts are “gendered” in nature, and it is necessary for health workers to “disconnect concepts of gender equality and cigarette smoking”. She quotes the journal, Tobacco Reporter, which has reported that women smokers are likely to increase as the percentage of the total number of smokers. The journal attributes this to the fact that “women are adopting more dominant roles in society, and have increased their spending power”. All this, says Christofides, has made women a prime target for tobacco advertisers. The image of “smoking equals freedom”, says Christofides, is aided by the fact that the advertising depicts sophisticated or trendy women smoking with men – a sign of “gender equality”.
The new tobacco legislation, which comes into effect next April, aims to regulate not only smoking habits, but tobacco advertising as well. Among other things it will affect tobacco sponsorships for sports and music concerts. Advertising will also be stringently regulated. According to Christofides, the new laws are a welcome step towards decreasing the numbers of young people, especially women, from smoking. “It is clear from tobacco industry documents that women are specifically being targeted. A complete ban of advertising is therefore recommended as an integral part of a comprehensive, gender- sensitive tobacco control policy.”