Tobacco advertising should disappear from open airs
If Ruth Humbel has her way, the presence of tobacco manufacturers at open-air events will soon be a thing of the past.
For years, tobacco industry brands have been present at Swiss open air events with their own tents and lounges. The commitment pays off: According to an internal survey of Open Air Frauenfeld quoted by Schweiz am Sonntag, 80 percent of visitors noticed the cigarette advertising - 36 percent described the Marlboro party tent as the best ever. Open Air Frauenfeld is the largest and most important hip-hop festival in Europe and therefore also attracts many underage visitors.
This is one of the reasons why sponsorship appearances are a thorn in the side of CVP National Councillor Ruth Humbel. She finds the argument that minors are not allowed into discos and bars at festivals "simply hypocritical". She therefore wants to ban tobacco advertising at open air festivals.
Humbel is thus going one step further than Health Minister Alain Berset, who only wants to ban advertising appearances at events with an international character in the new Tobacco Products Act - i.e. not at festivals such as Frauenfeld or Gurten. How the AZ 2014 wroteAccording to the FOPH, only events that take place partly abroad or otherwise have a cross-border effect, for example if they are broadcast by foreign TV stations, would have said international character. At the time, the FOPH cited the Eurovision Song Contest as an example.
According to Schweiz am Sonntag, the National Council's Health Committee intends to discuss in detail the question of where cigarette manufacturers will still be allowed to advertise in future at one of its next meetings. In contrast to the Council of States, the committee decided last week to approve the new Tobacco Products Act.
For the open airs, a ban would mean considerable financial losses in some cases. According to Research of the Northwestern Switzerland newspaper association, tobacco companies are expected to pay up to 300,000 francs for major sponsorship appearances. And the companies pay between 20,000 and 80,000 francs just for the right to sell the group's own brands on the site. (hae)
Header image: Cvp.ch, Openair-frauenfeld.ch
