Report of the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, par. 53 (2014)

Text of the recommendation

53. Regulations have lagged behind the ingenuity of advertisers. For example, the banning of traditional tobacco advertising is insufficient. A study measuring brain reactions to a range of stimulants (cigarette packets, advertising posters, promotional items and brand exposure through sponsorship) show that sponsorship images, such as using a colour code for items even without explicitly mentioning the brand, stimulate areas of the brain associated with the desire to smoke. These results invite considerations of ways to regulate all forms of indirect advertising and sponsorship.