Health Ministry To Ask BCCI To Stop Surrogate Advertising Of Tobacco Products During Cricket Matches: Report

The Directorate General of Health Services will reportedly ask BCCI to stop broadcasting of all surrogate advertisements that promote tobacco products.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the richest cricket board in the world. They are also one of the most powerful boards in the global cricketing ecospace. With India being a big cricket market for the world and the BCCI's power, it is not easy for the world to ignore BCCI or Indian cricket.

However, even the BCCI functions as per a certain guidline and protocol. It now seems like they would be reached out to by the Union Health Ministry who want to discuss the surrogate adversiments flooding television and even digital streaming platforms during India's international cricket match.

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While public figures are shown promoting 'elaichi' mouth freshners, in reality these are all manufactured by companies who make tobacco product makers. However, the government feels that they have a tendency to attract youth and ultimately entice them into tobacoo consumption.

"Cricket matches widely popular among young population. There have been multiple instances wherein surrogate smokeless tobacco ads are being displayed during cricket matches and celebrity endorsement happening. This tends to indirectly attract the youths. The health ministry’s DGHS (Directorate General of Health & Services) may communicate to the BCCI urging them to stop showing tobacco related ads in any form," an official was quoted as saying by Mint.

Tobacco Responsible For Nearly 1.35 Million Deaths Every Year: WHO Survey

A 2016-17 study titled the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), reveals that nearly 1.35 million deaths reported every year is related to tobacco consumption in its various forms.

Based on these considerations, it is being learnt that the health ministry will ask BCCI to stop the broadcasting of all surrogate advertisements that promote tobacco. In addition, stadiums that have advertisements for such products could will also be asked to stop by the Ministry, as per the media report.