Tobacco marketing ‘targets poor countries’

Faced with falling sales in richer nations, the tobacco industry is increasingly marketing its product in the developing world, where restrictions on promoting smoking are more relaxed, a new study said yesterday.

The study, which looked at tobacco marketing in 462 communities across 16 countries, was published by the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation.

The study found that “people living in poor countries are exposed to more intense and aggressive tobacco marketing than those living in affluent countries”, with the marketing designed to drive up smoking among children and adolescents.