Tobacco usage in sport

Tobacco usage in sport is a well documented and publicised occurrence. Tobacco advertising has connected itself to sports both for the connotations of health that sports provide, as well as the marketing potential of famous athletes. Additionally, tobacco has played a role in the sport of baseball specifically and has affected both the rules affecting players and fan alike. Agencies such as the CDC have used sports as platforms for tobacco prevention programs, specifically targeted at younger people.

Advertising by country

In the early 1900s the tobacco industry sought to pair smoking with active and healthy lifestyles. Through its advertisements, the tobacco industry created associations between smoking and recreational and athletic activities like tennis, golf, swimming, football, track and field, skiing, and ice skating. These activities were often depicted in cigarette advertising as activities demanding a cigarette for enhanced performance and even good health. American Tobacco's Lucky Strikes ran a successful advertising campaign that urged men and women “To keep a slender figure, reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet.”[1] Smokeless tobacco in baseball urged adolescents to buy their product by using slogans such as "May cause the urge to act like a man."[2]

Consumption

There is only limited evidence about the association of tobacco and sports:

• A survey of 5,400 Swiss men (average age of 26 years old) found that participants practising a sport had a lower smoking rate (32 %) and a higher rate of snus (15 %) use than participants not practicing a sport (45 % smoking and 10 % using snus). Individual-sport participants were less likely to use snus and more likely to vape, compared with team-sport participants. Participants practising high-intensity sports had a lower likelihood to smoke cigarettes, compared with low-intensity sports.[15]
• A survey on 540 university students (in health or education) in Spain (average age of 21 years old) found that women showed a lower habit on sports practice and a higher tobacco consumption. The analysis showed a trend towards a lower sport practice among the smokers.[16]
• A survey on 550 adolescent athletes (12-16 years old) in Spain found that practicing a medium-high-contact sports was a risk factor for alcohol and tobacco use.[17]

Baseball and tobacco

Between 1920 until 1940, when baseball was America's most popular sport, every major-league team had a tobacco sponsor.[8] It is common perception that many baseball players use tobacco. However, as of 2008, this practice was changing and declining, according to Major League Baseball (MLB).[21]

A reason chewing tobacco usage increased among baseball players, according to one source, was the misconception that it improved concentration, overall performance,[22] and was less harmful than tobacco smoking. Contrary to this, chewing tobacco does not have an established connection to the performance of baseball players.[23] As more information about the dangers of chewing tobacco has come to light it has become stigmatized within baseball itself with players, staff and managers often having to "sneak" off to partake. These individuals understand that children will easily copy their actions and try to hide them now, as they are negative role models for youth. Most players have made attempts to quit, but the majority struggle in breaking their addiction.

Tobacco prevention and sports

The majority of tobacco smokers start smoking before they graduate high school. The CDC has identified youth sports as an area where tobacco education and prevention will help limit the number of first time smokers and has begun a Tobacco Free Sports Movement to encourage non smoking practices in athletics.[26] The CDC has paired with many large organizations to achieve this goal. These include public health agencies such as the National Cancer Institute, and sport regulatory bodies such as FIFA and the International Olympic Committee to further the efforts of tobacco elimination in sports.[26] The 2008 Beijing Olympics banned not only tobacco usage, but advertising, sponsorship, promotion and sale of tobacco products in Olympic venues.[27] The last Olympic Games with a tobacco company as a sponsor were in 1984, and control has gotten stricter since then (as can be seen from the Beijing regulations).[8] On a smaller scale there are regional efforts to create tobacco free sports initiatives such as the Tobacco-Free Athletes of Maine. This organization seeks to have coaches educate their young athletes about the effects of tobacco.

See also

• Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
• Nicotine marketing
• Electronic cigarette and e-cigarette liquid marketing
• Regulation of nicotine marketing
• Smoking in association football

External links

• Tobacco Free Sports (Canada) via Wayback Machine