Tobacco Induced Diseases (Mar 2018)

Impact of pictorial warning and advertisement among tobacco users in India

  • Surendran Veeraiah,
  • Vidhubala Elangovan,
  • Revathy Sudhakar,
  • Sundaramoorthy Chidambaram,
  • Divyarajprabhakar Subramani

DOI
https://doi.org/10.18332/tid/84558
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 1

Abstract

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Background Considering the increasing burden of tobacco related morbidity and mortality, various interventions are being formulated and implemented frequently. Advertisement through media and pictorial warning on tobacco products are one of the innovative interventions successfully put into practice across various nations. Although the government of India is allocating a significant amount to the media awareness, the efficacy of the anti-tobacco advertisements among the tobacco users and its contribution to the area of tobacco control has not been stated clearly. As a part of a large statewide population based survey, the impact of the advertisements and pictorial warning among the tobacco users were assessed and reported in this study. Methods A large statewide household survey (Tamil Nadu Tobacco Survey-2016) conducted among 99,825 individuals in India during the year 2015-2016 to monitor the tobacco usage and track the key outcome indicators for tobacco control. Of the participants enrolled, 5208 (current tobacco users) were asked four questions on the impact of the pictorial warning and anti tobacco advertisement on their tobacco usage, as one of the indicator of tobacco cessation and control. Results Almost 67.3% of the tobacco users reported to have noticed the pictorial warning on the tobacco packs, of which 45.6% of them reported that they were motivated by the warnings, to quit the usage. There is a significant impact of the pictorial warnings on the packages in creating a demand for tobacco cessation ( p = 0.00). Over 88.5% of the tobacco users noticed warning advertisements and messages in various sources. Sources of media Noticed warnings Thought of quitting TV Films 4151 (79.7%) 1056 (20.3%) 756 (14.5%) 184 (3.5%) Newspaper 647 (12.4%) 87 (1.7%) Billboards 652 (12.5%) 90 (1.7%) Radio 425 (8.2%) 84 (1.6%) [Table 1 Source of Adverticements] Visual media reaches a larger population and holds a significant role in motivating the users to quit. Conclusions The anti tobacco advertisements and messages through visual media is an effective method which reaches larger population and motivates the tobacco users to reduce and quit the habit.

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