Drop tobacco advts, Anbumani writes to BCCI

“Advertisements of tobacco products Pan Bahar, Baba, Chaini Khaini, Kamla Pasand and Shikhar are being broadcast throughout cricket matches. During the T20 International cricket match held at Hyderabad on December 6 and at Thiruvananthapuram on December 8, featuring India and West Indies, these advertisements were displayed prominently on in-stadia hoardings, peripheral LED boards and telecast through TV channels.

The brands under disguise of ‘Pan Masala’ promote smokeless tobacco products and the tobacco companies use the space to lure millions of youngsters who follow cricket in India,” said Anbumani, in a letter written to BCCI.He also said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described tobacco addiction as “a communicated disease - communicated through advertising, sports, marketing and sponsorship.” Tobacco industry advertising and promotion have been shown to be particularly effective at enticing children and young people to start using tobacco, as youth are the “replacement tobacco users” so essential to the industry’s ongoing success, he added. Marketing can also induce former tobacco consumers to relapse, said Anbumani.