Rules covering the marketing of rolling papers
25 October 2004
The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) today issued new rules on the advertising of rolling papers. Drawn up in consultation with the rolling paper industry and the Department of Health, the Rules Covering the Marketing of Rolling Papers and Filters improve on the strict rules that applied to tobacco advertising before the tobacco advertising ban (which did not ban the advertising of rolling papers and filters) came into force earlier this year.
CAP – the industry body that writes the rules for non-broadcast advertising – undertook to produce self-regulatory rules for rolling papers and filters when it published the revised British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (the CAP Code) in March 2003. Having written the Rules with the help of the industry and the Department of Health, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) Council agreed to administer them earlier this month.
The Rules can be accessed on www.cap.org.uk and take effect immediately. Some of the key points are:
·No ad should depict anyone smoking
·Ads should not encourage people to start smoking
·Ads should not encourage smokers to increase their consumption or smoke to excess
·Ads should not be targeted at, or be likely to appeal to, people under 18
·No medium should be used to market rolling papers or filters if more than 25% of its audience is under 18 or women under 24
·Ads should not encourage or condone the use of illegal drugs
·Ads should not imply that smoking is glamorous or aspirational or that it enhances people’s femininity, masculinity or appearance
·Ads should not appeal to the adventurous or rebellious
·Ads should not imply that smoking is safe, healthy, natural, popular or appropriate in all circumstances.
The Rules urge rolling paper advertisers to check their ads with the CAP Copy Advice team before running them; the team gives fast and free advice that is confidential from competitors. The Rules also stress that the ASA will interpret them in the spirit as well as to the letter.
CAP Chairman Andrew Brown said: “the tobacco ban did not cover advertising for rolling papers and filters but the industry, to its great credit, has plugged the gap by signing up to strict self-regulatory advertising rules. The Rules will go a long way to continue to ensure that rolling papers are advertised responsibly. The authority of the ASA will ensure that the Rules are administered properly and the commitment of the wider marketing and media businesses will ensure that advertisements that break the Rules are amended or withdrawn.”
Welcoming the Rules, Chris Ogden of the Tobacco Manufacturers Association said: “the industry takes very seriously its duty to advertise responsibly and has long restricted itself to doing no more than encouraging people to switch brands. These important rules preserve and build on that vital established principle.”
For more details please contact Donna Mitchell on 020 7580 1339 or Claire Forbes on 020 7291 3065.
