Sensitization of the youth representatives on tobacco control

In a remarkable move, the Ministry of Health, Government of India on World No Tobacco Day, 31st May 2023, notified the amendments to COTPA Rules making it mandatory for OTT platforms to display health warnings during tobacco depiction on their platform and also imposed a ban on tobacco products promotion and brand placement. With this pioneering step, India became a world champion in regulating tobacco promotion through entertainment medium. The Government of India enacted a beneficial legislation, COTPA 2003, to discourage tobacco use, by eliminating all direct and indirect advertisements of tobacco. The ban on tobacco advertisements under COTPA, led to the spurt of incidents promoting tobacco products through entertainment medium. There was a huge increase in scenes in films and television depicting tobacco use, which also led to product placement (display of clear images of tobacco brands).

The Government in 2012, after years of litigation with the film industry, enforced a law that regulated depiction of tobacco products and its use in Films and Television. The ‘Films and Television Rules’ requires theatre owners and broadcasters of television programmes to display anti-tobacco static warning messages, anti-tobacco health spots and audio-visual disclaimers about the ill effects of tobacco use in all films and television programmes depicting tobacco products or their use and further bans display of brands of the tobacco products or any form of tobacco product placement.

These rules were fairly being implemented in films and television, however, OTT platforms remained largely unregulated. This became a serious concern when the popularity of streaming platforms, especially during COVID-19 consequential lockdown particularly among teens, increased exponentially. There was rampant depiction of tobacco imagery on OTT platforms wherein teens in school uniform were overtly shown smoking and product placement was evident, ridiculing India’s tobacco control law and its intent. As per a study published in the British Medical Journal, “Tobacco imagery in on-demand streaming content popular among adolescents and young adults in India: Implications for global tobacco control”, there is rampant depiction of tobacco use in series on OTT platforms which were mostly rated for viewers below 18 years of age.

India has set an example in protecting young people from exposure to tobacco use and depiction of smoking scenes in the entertainment media. India has become a global leader by closing the regulatory gap in OTT media by extending the film rules to OTT.

India has long been a global leader and innovator in protecting youth from tobacco use, particularly in curtailing imagery in movies that glamorizes tobacco use. Under current laws (announced on 2 Oct 2012), theatrical movies, as well as movies or shows broadcasted on TV, that have depictions of tobacco use–must display health warnings about the harms of tobacco at the start and middle of the movie or program, and throughout the scene depicting tobacco use. The current laws also ban any form of tobacco product placement in films and TV programs. The new rules announced today extend these provisions to online streaming services, thus cutting off a key access point for Big Tobacco to young people.

With the growing popularity of streaming services, viewers around the world are increasingly exposed to content glorifying smoking and tobacco use. India’s new regulations will ensure that streaming services are not the next vehicle for tobacco industry’s aggressive targeting of Indian youth.

The key features of these Rules are

All contents streaming on OTT Platforms (films, series, documentaries etc), displaying tobacco products or their use shall, display: anti-tobacco health spots/advertisements, anti-tobacco health warning as a static message at the bottom of the screen (“Tobacco causes cancer” or “Tobacco kills”), during the period of display of the tobacco products or their use and an audio-visual disclaimer on the ill-effects of tobacco use. The rules ban display of the brands of cigarettes or other tobacco products or any form of tobacco product placement and display of tobacco products or their use in promotional materials.

The rules will come into force within three months from the date of its publication in the official gazette. 
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