St Valentine’s Day will be the date when the UK Government’s policy on the banning of tobacco advertising will be visibly kick-started. From 14 February 2003 there will be a prohibition on advertisements for tobacco products on billboards and in the press. Further prohibitions will follow throughout the course of 2003 and beyond in an attempt to implement a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising.
A scheme has been introduced by the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 ("TAPA"), which received Royal Assent on 7 November 2002, that will ban the advertising and promotion of tobacco products in the UK. A manifesto commitment made in the 1997 election campaign is now legislation and TAPA represents what has been described as one of the landmark pieces of public health legislation.
