Cigarette smoking — A disaster waiting to happen
Jakarta : Never Quit is the tag line of a popular Indonesian cigarette brand Surya Pro. Its pack carries, prominently, a statutory warning picture of a throat cancer patient. It is quite scary. But the hero of this cigarette brand’s advertisement campaign is a macho man peering at you from the hoardings and posters, ordering/prompting you to never quit. Since the advertisement campaign is about cigarettes and not any adventure sports, to me, an ordinary mortal, this line only means ‘never quit’ smoking this specific cigarette brand.
This campaign is one of the finest examples of an advertising agency and its copy writers successfully circumventing tough rules enacted especially to discourage smoking habit. It succeeds in boosting the brand image and push sales of Surya Pro. Positioning smokers as macho men.
In India we are quite accustomed to seeing popular Indian and international brands pushing liquor sales through their soda/sparkling water campaigns or by sponsoring golfing and lifestyle events. Surrogate advertising helps each of these brands to circumvent rules, hoodwink the regulators and come up trumps in the world of cut throat competition.
Absolutely an acceptable corporate behaviour. Don’t we see chartered accountants successfully using legal loopholes to save income tax and maximise profits for their clients and companies?
Being a Muslim majority nation liquor drinking is almost negligible in the country. Neither is betel nut or tobacco chewing a national pastime of the countrymen in Indonesia.
Luckily this also means that due to the absence of betel nut and tobacco addicts the nation’s roads, streets and buildings are devoid of sickly red pan and filthy gutka stains.
If we look at our friendly neighbourhood Bhutan, which has a population of only 7,80,000 people, more than 1,20,000 Bhutanese are tobacco users, Nearly 19,000 students aged 13–17 years either smoke or use smokeless tobacco products.
The International Agency Research on Cancer (IARC) has recognised betel nut as a risk factor for oral cancer. Unfortunately, 250,000 adult Bhutanese consume Doma (betel nut). Its consumption is an integral part of Bhutanese culture. You will be offered this at religious ceremonies, social gatherings as well as casually by friends and acquaintances. Once you start consuming, Doma is quite addictive, just like smoking.
Today in this small country of 7,80,000 the government’s biggest challenge is to wean these men, women and youngsters away from Doma as well as smoking. While touring the country I witnessed the government’s proactive steps taken to counter this menace. In addition to various community initiatives, the government has launched advertisement campaigns through hoardings and billboards across the country.
If a small country like Bhutan can launch a drive like this to counter oral cancer, country like Indonesia, which is the world’s fourth most populous nation with young population, must also aggressively take up steps to highlight risks of excessive smoking and create awareness regarding lung and esphagus cancer which owes its existence to this addiction.
Smoking is a favourite pastime of Indonesians across the country. Seeing people resting with a cigarette in one hand and mobile in another is a common sight. They could be in ones and twos or even in larger groups.
From workers, shack owners to well healed office goers all indulge in this killer pastime. Accompanying them will be a cup of coffee or black tea.
In the evenings in market areas across Jakarta one witnesses a site which is unique in this part of Asia. The city is serviced by Go Jek. This company is Jakarta’s answer to OLA, Uber, Swiggy and Zomato in India. The army of company’s drivers and bikers/riders, when free after the day’s running around, in the evening take over the pedestrian pathways across markets. They will all be plonked on the footpath in singles or twos, relaxing with a cigarette in hand and blowing away their worries in air. It is their I, Me Myself time. In this era of battery operated cars, on these footpaths they all look like plugged into their charging stations, recharging their batteries before heading home.
I am used to witnessing yoga sessions in Delhi’s parks and gyms in the morning. A teacher will always be seen leading a group of yoga practitioners. All members of the group participate in these sessions with discipline and great enthusiasm.
In the evenings in Jakarta, footpaths in busy markets turn into similar unique yoga sessions of smoking kind, without a teacher. Meditative seriousness with which these men and women indulge in this habit for recouping their strength and rejuvenating themselves with the help of a lit cigarette is to be appreciated. These guys definitely are not aware of the danger of lung and esaphagus cancer lurking behind this addictive pastime.
This is high time for the Indonesian government to introduce steps and start health awareness campaigns across the country to control the menace of smoking. Make people aware that smoking is not a symbol of manliness. It is neither an exclusive tool for relaxation, rejuvenation nor meditation. It has strictly implemented smoking and no smoking zones in eateries and airports. But this is not enough. Did not see any educational hoardings or billboards against smoking.
Indonesia is a nation of youngsters, economy is booming, GDP is rising, life styles are improving and the island nation is on the path of economic glory. Failure to check this menace will definitely lead to a health disaster of colossal magnitude flattening all economic growth and benefits accruing from it.
We accept guest posts. Write to us at contact@localpostit.com to get your articles published.
