They may be influenced by seeing adults, ranging from family members to film stars and sports heroes, who smoke. In many countries, there are unacceptably high percentages of teachers and medical professionals who smoke. We may tell children we don't want them to smoke, but our words are meaningless if our actions speak differently. If we expect to reduce smoking among young people, we must also do all we can to help adults quit smoking. Adults must set the example, and those who are in charge of defining public policies have a particularly important responsibility to create conditions for a tobacco-free environment.
Tobacco advertising plays a central role in persuading young people to smoke.
Whether that be in a glossy magazine or on the side of a sleek racing car, young people receive a clear and constant message that smoking is glamorous, smoking is exciting, smoking is mature, and smoking is a desirable way to behave. Although the tobacco industry may claim that it does not want young people to smoke, their own documents tell a very different story and show a longstanding interest in young smokers. For its very survival, the tobacco industry needs to recruit new smokers every year to replace those who die from tobacco-related diseases. Those new smokers are most often teenagers. It may be true that many young people are influenced to smoke by their peers, but we must remember that by definition, a peer is someone of the same age - another young person who is also likely to have been influenced by such factors as adult behaviour and tobacco advertising.