ISLAMABAD, May 31: The federal Health Ministry on Thursday tightened restrictions on tobacco advertisements and announced that it would go for legislation banning them completely.

Pakistan’s tobacco advertising budget currently stands at Rs55 million; there are an estimated 25 million smokers in the country.

At a meeting of a tobacco advertising guidelines committee, the Ministry of Health said that Pakistan was a signatory to the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control and the government would seek legislation banning tobacco advertisements altogether.

Meanwhile, the ministry has formulated regulations which will supplement the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers’ Health Ordinance 2002.

Under the new restrictions, which go into force immediately, the print media may not carry tobacco ads larger than one square inch. Advertisements outside shops will be banned after a deadline. However, no restriction has been placed on ads inside shops. Tobacco advertisements may be aired on the electronic media only between 3am and 4am. Furthermore, a blanket restriction has been imposed on all forms of the media regarding incidental advertising of cigarette smoking.

Announced on World No Tobacco Day, the new regulations sound encouraging. However, a similar meeting in June 2006 restricted the size of outdoor tobacco advertisements to one square metre — a rule flouted everywhere with impunity.

Other than announcing that pop singer Faakhir will act as a goodwill ambassador for tobacco control, the Ministry of Health did not announce anything of significance. No steps were suggested for implementing more strictly the 2002 anti-tobacco law that is violated by ministers and the common man alike.

At a ceremony in connection with No Tobacco Day, Federal Health Minister Nasir Khan acknowledged that politicians and community leaders often fail to lead by example. Responding to criticism that the government is doing little to enforce anti-smoking laws, Mr Khan said that the first giant step has already been taken.

Meanwhile, tobacco advertisement companies dismissed the new restrictions as a political gimmick.

They said that they had voluntarily pulled out of most advertising routes already, and that tobacco companies had shifted from commercial marketing to experiential marketing, which uses which uses brand relevant experiences to appeal to both the rational and emotional triggers of the intended consumers.