Are there any further tobacco advertising bans coming?

Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for

More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.

Doctors have been warning for years to stop advertising for cigarettes and the like more consistently in order to protect young people in particular from harm. Now the Union and the SPD want to move forward with it - and are presenting legislative plans.

After a long struggle, the grand coalition wants to bring further advertising restrictions on smoking to protect health. "I am glad that we can finally bring a bill for a comprehensive ban on tobacco outdoor advertising to the Bundestag together with the Union," said SPD parliamentary deputy Matthias Miersch of the German press agency.

The plan is to gradually ban poster advertising from 2022. Electronic cigarettes are also being targeted. Further bans are planned for cinema advertising and marketing campaigns. The Bundestag is expected to discuss the legislative plans for the first time on Friday next week (May 29).

Measures are designed to protect young people

Specifically, advertising options are to be staggered in order to protect young people in particular from the risks of new offers. First of all, from January 1, 2022, there will be a ban on advertising on outdoor surfaces such as billboards or stops for conventional tobacco products. It should take effect for tobacco heaters from January 1, 2023, and then from January 1, 2024 for e-cigarettes.

As early as January 1, 2021, cinema advertising for smoking at film screenings that are approved for under 18-year-olds should be taboo. This should also end with the distribution of free samples outside of specialist shops, for example at music festivals and tobacco products as prizes in competitions.

Already the second attempt at a ban

The joint draft is the second black and red attempt to come to stricter advertising rules in Germany as well. "This is what the SPD fought for for a long time," said Miersch.

A first attempt at the Union failed in the previous electoral term. The cabinet approved plans by the Ministry of Food in 2016. The law was just never passed in the Bundestag. In December 2019, however, the CDU / CSU parliamentary group voted for a position paper that now forms the basis for the coalition's further action.

Smoking rate is set to decrease further

Tobacco advertising is already banned on radio and television, newspapers and magazines. In combination with this, the new steps would be assessed as an effective means to achieve a further reduction in the smoking rate, according to the draft that is available to the German Press Agency.

Because outdoor advertising is generally present. Cinema advertising takes place in a "positive context of entertainment".And free samples could provide incentives, especially for young adults.

Union and SPD: "intervention justified"

The encroachment on the rights of the tobacco and advertising industry would be "seen as justified for reasons of health protection of the population", argue the Union and the SPD in the draft. Advertising directly at points of sale remains permissible. And tobacco products are also fundamentally different from other legally advertised products.

"Probably no other of these products is equally harmful to health when used as intended." Union faction vice Gitta Connemann (CDU) had already emphasized in December: "Every year in Germany 120,000 people die an excruciating tobacco death. Most of them begin in their youth, and we want to protect them."

E-cigarettes are also affected

Union and SPD also want to look at new products. Therefore, e-cigarettes should be treated the same way in the medium term when it comes to advertising bans, as Miersch said. The risks of nicotine-free e-cigarettes are now clearly proven. "Here health protection has priority over economic interests." It should also be ensured that the ingredients of e-cigarettes are better researched, continuously monitored and, where necessary, banned.

German Medical Association welcomes tobacco advertising ban

At the end of last year, the German Medical Association welcomed the fact that the Union is now making a second attempt possible - but has also criticized the planned transition periods of further years. The tobacco industry repeatedly warned against a "disproportionate interference with fundamental rights" to advertise freedom. The decisive factor for the start of smoking, especially by minors, is the smoking behavior of friends and family - not advertising. (lv / dpa)

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