2023-09-27 12:44:52
Ahead of the meeting between the XV of France and Namibia on Thursday September 21 in Marseille, the ACT-Alliance against tobacco called for a tobacco-free sporting world.
Despite the measures put in place by certain stakeholders to successfully exclude tobacco products from major competitions, smoking is still permitted in France in open and semi-open sports facilities. However, given its disastrous consequences on health, the environment or even the safety of stadiums, the tobacco industry and its products are contrary to the values promoted by sport and have no place on the field, nor in the stands. With the support of several associations, communities, parliamentarians and players in the sporting world, the ACT and its partners are calling on public authorities to permanently ban tobacco from all sporting events. A plea that the association intends to make heard despite the withdrawal of major sports organizations and the last minute censorship of its awareness campaign by the agency Médiatransports.
Although they are now prohibited from promoting tobacco, tobacco companies have long associated their products with the world of sport: sports goodies in cigarette packets, tobacco promoted as a performance factor, sponsorship of major sporting competitions, product placement in television series, etc. Although contradictory, this association has helped to disseminate the idea that tobacco is compatible with the sporting world: almost half of smokers (48%) think that smoking in small doses does not impact sporting performance and two third of them (66% and even 47% of the general public) wrongly believe that doing sport helps cleanse the lungs.
However, in view of its health, but also social and environmental, consequences, the tobacco industry carries values that are completely contrary to those of sport: Tobacco is in opposition to the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Beyond significantly reducing the sporting abilities of smokers by disrupting their oxygen ratio, it directly exposes players, supporters and staff in stadiums to the danger of passive smoking. Every year in France, tobacco causes the premature death of 75,000 people, including non-smokers. Its consumption is opposed to team spirit. In addition to not providing a favorable environment for smokers wishing to quit, it trivializes tobacco products among the public, particularly in the eyes of children and adolescents who may be present in the stadiums. Of those who purchased a ticket to the Rugby World Cup, 70% of them planned to go to the stadium with their family. Furthermore, the presence of tobacco during sporting events goes against the preservation of the environment. Every year in the world, 4,500 billion cigarette butts are scattered in nature, the equivalent in volume of approximately 5 stadiums in France filled with cigarette butts. The tobacco industry also compromises the safety of sports venues by increasing the risk of fire.
Marion Catellin, Director of the ACT-Alliance Against Tobacco : “Given the very essence of the activities of tobacco companies, it is incomprehensible that the tobacco industry has not yet been definitively banned from all sporting competitions. Today, 81% of French people and even 63% of smokers are in favor of this ban; it is now the government’s responsibility to legislate on this subject. If we wish to definitively break the association that can be made between sport and tobacco, this exclusion must also apply to the partnerships established by the organizers: although it aims to have a positive impact on rugby, society and the planet, France 2023 has entered into a contract from 2022 with Alcome, which is none other than a private company bringing together all the tobacco manufacturers. By promising to recycle cigarette butts into street furniture, this agreement fuels the greenwashing of tobacco companies who only seek to improve their image and make people believe that there is an ecological way to smoke. Which is entirely false ! “.
Today in France, the law authorizes the organizers of sporting events to strictly ban tobacco from their events. An opportunity that many players have already seized: in 2017, FIFA adopted a charter specifying that all its events, including the Football World Cup, would be tobacco-free and several French sports venues such as the Vélodrome stadium in Marseille or the Parc des Princes in Paris followed this initiative. However, most of the policies implemented do not completely exclude the consumption of tobacco products within their premises and provide for several exceptions (smoking remains tolerated in outdoor spaces specifically designed for this purpose). If local initiatives are essential to advance the national debate, it is now the responsibility of the government to extend this public health policy to the national level. Alongside several associations, communities, sports and parliamentary organizations, the ACT-Alliance Against Tobacco and its partners are calling on public authorities to permanently ban tobacco from all sporting events.
In order to make its plea heard, the ACT chose to mobilize public opinion during an event awaited by many French people: the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Aimed at sports fans, athletes or simple supporters, this campaign entitled “Red Card” goes straight to the point: the tobacco industry has no place in sporting events. Revealed in Marseille on September 21 during a press conference and a happening near the Vélodrome, this new communication time will then be deployed nationally until October 8, 2023. Among the actions planned in this system, we find a poster campaign in 4 major cities (Marseille, Paris, Lille and Lyon), a partnership with two flagship press titles of this World Cup (Midi Olympique / Rugbyrama and L’ Team), a video spot broadcast at the opening of the program “Le Mag de la Coupe du monde de rugby” on TF1 (accessible from MyTF1.fr) and a relay on social networks from great sportsmen (the champion of fencing world Manon Brunet and the well-known influencer Juju Fitcats).
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