:: SALAAM BOMBAY FOUNDATION ::

Research

Cancer of the Mind

Salaam Bombay Foundation strongly believes that tobacco advertising (chewing tobacco) directly taints impressionable minds of young children. A research project – Cancer of the Mind - was taken up to study the stronghold of tobacco advertising on the minds of Mumbai's teenagers.

The objectives were:

To assess the recall of tobacco advertising in children.
To identify messages relevant for advocacy.

3260 respondents, between 12 to 17 years from 15 municipal and private schools were asked to fill out a self-administered questionnaire. 54% respondents were male and 46% were female.

Gender wise age distribution of the respondents

70% of the respondents were from municipal schools and 30% were from private schools.

When asked to recall slogans of any tobacco company or brand…

71% recalled Manikchand – Oonche log, oonchi pasand
12% recalled Goa – Yahan bhi Khilate hain, whan bhi, Goa No 1
2% recalled Sanket
0.4% recalled Shimla
15% recalled other brands

When asked to associate slogans with brands 63% could not associate the slogan while 37% could not.

When asked to recall an advertisement of any tobacco product….

Products recalled were

When asked to recall brands, boys recalled 33, that is 11 more than the girls 22

34% recalled Manikchand

32% recalled Goa

Boys recalled:

Manikchand, Goa, Hathi Chap, Sanket No. 1, Shimla, Moolchand, Gai Chap, Pan Parag, Raja Khaini, Moogli, Om, Sambhaji, Gold Flake, Wills, Bristol , Sikander, Pandarpuri, Red & White, Panama , Kuber, Vardaan, Hira, Ganga , Meeraj, Star, 4 Square, Raja-Rani, Vimal, Kombdi, Rajnigandha, Malboro, Parivar, Malikchand.

Girls recalled:

Manikchand, Goa, Hathi Chap, Sanket No. 1, Shimla, Moolchand, Gai Chap, Pan Parag, Raja Khaini, Moogli, Sambhaji, Gold Flake, Bristol, Sikander, Pandarpuri, Red & White, Kuber, Vardaan, Hira, Raja-Rani, Kombdi, Malikchand.

When asked where they had seen the advertisements, the responses were…

TV – 77%
Radio – 9%
Print – 15%
Outdoors – 9%
Theatre – 0.2%

Observations

Gutkha advertising has impacted the minds of the children very deeply.
Gutkha has been banned in Maharashtra since August 2002 and yet remains in the top recall.
The slogan “Onchey log, Onchee pasand” is well Identified within children and is recalled very highly.
Children associate tobacco most with Gutkha.
Children associate tobacco most with “Onchey Log, Onchee Pasand.“
Manikchand is a strong brand but its slogan is far stronger… probably because it is also used in surrogate advertising.
TV and radio are the most effective media for tobacco advertising.
The Gutkha brands have similar sounding messages.

Manikchand… Onchey Log Onchee Pasand

Goa … Onchi Khushboo Oncha Swad

Shimla… Shimla Sab Ki Pasand

Many brands are owned by the same company and brand names are also very close

(Manikchand, Malikchand, Moolchand)

Some Thoughts

Even though Gutkha is banned in Maharshtra the presence of advertising has kept it alive in the minds of the children.

Other products of a tobacco manufacturing company should not be allowed to carry the same brand… children cannot disassociate.
Other products of a tobacco manufacturing company should not be allowed to use the same slogan…it reiterates the tobacco imagery in their mind.
TV advertising is very potent and should be stopped first… Including cable TV.

B) TOBACCO: ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTION IN MUMBAI CHILDREN

In a study conducted by Salaam Bombay Foundation with 6351 students under 18 years from 19 municipal and private schools it was found that over 40 % of their parents consumed tobacco. This in itself is a matter of great concern as parents using tobacco leads to more social acceptability and a role model in their minds.

It was found that inspite of all the information available against tobacco 45 % of the youngsters still believed that tobacco consumption allows them to have more friends. This is possibly due to the imagery that media, advertising, fashion and films create for these children.

22% under the age of 18 admit to have been offered tobacco. Almost 40%under the age of 18 have bought tobacco for someone else.

A significant number could actually quote the right price of several tobacco products. 55% did not know about any health warnings on the tobacco product. Less that 10% could actually recall the health warning on the label of these products.

C) SMOKESCREEN

In a research study recently carried out with 1265 school children between 12 and 16 years from 24 municipal, government aided and private schools, it was seen that almost 66% of the children are heavily exposed movies with heavy smoking scenes.

Their favorite actor was Salman Khan followed by Shahrukh Khan both of whom are smokers and their favourite actress is Rani Mukherjee who has been shown in smoking in films like ‘Bunty Aur Babli.'

When the children were asked about specific movies with heavy smoking scenes in them, 85% of the children had seen most of these movies. Over 65% of the children felt that Shahrukh Khan look cool in Swades and they wanted to be like him. In fact, when asked whether Shahrukh Khan had been portrayed with bad habits, 54% of the children were not able to point out that he had been shown smoking in the movie.

Conclusion:

Children are heavily exposed to movies with smoking scenes. This only points out the that the concept of a hero is a person who smokes. They find smoking to be an integral part of the movie and don't see it as a habit that should not be taken up.

Solution:

Strong action must be taken to ban the smoking scenes from the film without any exception especially because of the fact that they are extensively watched by the children.