GreatBrands Nig. strongly believes children should not smoke, and smoking should only be for adults who understand the risks associated with it. Our Group companies support and run programmes worldwide tackling underage smoking, and we are committed to pooling our resources and experience globally with others in the tobacco industry – and with governments and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) – to help prevent youth smoking.

We view youth smoking as a critical issue in today’s society, and we want to help ensure that only informed adults smoke. We fully support laws and regulations on a minimum age for buying tobacco products, and penalties for retailers who break the law. Our company policy worldwide is not to market to anyone under 18 years old - or older, if the law in a particular country sets the age higher.

To help ensure that only informed adults smoke, we are committed to programmes throughout the world to tackle the issue, with the emphasis on education and access.

Some people are critical of the involvement of tobacco companies in efforts against youth smoking. Yet, in many countries where no other organisations are able or prepared to support such initiatives, tobacco company YSP programmes are often the only such programmes in the country.

We acknowledge that our involvement in YSP activity is a concern for some stakeholders and we accept we should refrain from some types of activity in countries where local stakeholders strongly believe we should not be involved.  Wherever our YSP activities are generally supported, we are committed to continuing with them.

Our approach
There is no ‘right’ way to develop a YSP programme, and no one programme will fit all countries. Our prevention programmes are increasingly based on research into current attitudes as well as building on existing experience. Over time, this enables us to identify the most effective aspects of programmes, as well as any weaknesses, which in turn helps us develop best practice.

We see YSP programmes as having two primary objectives: preventing children from obtaining tobacco products and discouraging children from wanting to smoke. To this end, we believe in a number of core approaches:

Education – These programmes focus on helping educators and parents to teach children to exercise responsibility and independence and to resist negative peer pressure, including resisting pressure to smoke. Programmes are developed to involve parents, educators and governments.

Retail access prevention – Access programmes focus on restricting the sale of tobacco products to minors at the point of sale. They include proof-of-age schemes and teaching retailers about relevant laws and ways of preventing sales to minors.

Advertising campaigns – Advertising can play a vital role in communicating that youth shouldn’t smoke. Advertising can target young people directly or support other programmes by targeting retailers, teachers or parents.

Youth smoking is a complex issue for society to address, with no simple solution. However, by harnessing the expertise and understanding of all interested parties – including government, retailers, parents, teachers and young people themselves – we hope to ensure that YSP programmes are accepted and successful.