What you will see in this library is - fortunately - the past.
On December 19, 2000 the Hungarian Parliament voted for an amendment of the 1997 Act on Advertising, which only forbade "tobacco advertising targeted at children and youth", billboards located within 200 metres from educational or health establishments, and screening of tobacco ads before 8 pm in cinemas. The amendment introduced a total ban on direct and indirect advertising for tobacco products to take effect by July 1, 2001 for print media and by January 1, 2002 for outdoor posters and billboards. Accordingly, the ads contained in this library are now parts of the Hungarian history of tobacco advertising. They indicate, however, what kind of clever and sophisticated tactics and messages were used by the tobacco and advertising industry to find new consumers for tobacco products and to keep their regular consumers addicted to smoking.
The previous Hungarian advertising law requested the ads to carry the general warning: “TOBACCO SERIOUSLY DAMAGES YOUR HEALTH AND THE HEALTH OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT”. You will see this sentence on the bottom of every advertisement which has been published.
In 1998 the tobacco industry’s expenditures for advertising and sponsorship reached 2 billion HUF (about 10 million USD). Please mention that Hungary has 10 million inhabitants and about 2.5 million adult smokers. This is 60-70 times more than the state’s expenditures on tobacco control activities.
The Hungarian legal framework for tobacco control, including provisions of the 2001 Advertising Act, is now one of the most progressive in the World. Now tobacco control advocates and organizations responsible for the enforcement of the legislation will need to pay attention on how the industry's tactics would change in an attempt to continue its coimmunication with "adult consumers". Vigilance will be needed to monitor the implementation of the advertising regulation, with special regard to point-of-sale advertising and sponsorship of cultural and some sporting events, which are still permitted under the current legislation. But, in an important step forward, Hungarian public places are now free of deceptive tobacco advertisements.