Tobacco: the end of advertising in Germany from 2024

In Germany, tobacco advertising posters are still a common sight. The practice, already abolished in every other European country, makes Germany a genuine exception within the European Union. In a reversal, from 2024 no tobacco advertising at all will be displayed across the Rhine.

Advertising that encourages consumption

Billboards, bus shelters and the rest: in Germany, the cigarette is on display everywhere. The slogans are unapologetic and openly promotional. Marlboro invokes freedom, while an electronic cigarette brand states that smokers say yes.

That freedom, however, is now living on borrowed time. The controversy over tobacco advertising has raged for many years. Every other European country has already banned the practice, yet Germany long held out. In recent times, the German government appears to have changed course.

The German tobacco lobby is alarmed by the announcement, arguing that 23,000 jobs are threatened by it. It will take more than that to sway the government. The argument no longer seems to hold against the 120,000 deaths associated with cigarettes in the country each year.

A gradual, phased withdrawal

Thirty years after the Évin act in France, Germany is therefore giving up its tobacco advertising. With these products considered highly carcinogenic, the government has made its decision: tobacco advertising will be banned on German soil as well.

So as not to upset habits too abruptly, the withdrawal will be gradual and phased. Members of parliament proposed starting with the removal of advertising in cinemas, during screenings for audiences under 18, from 2021.

A year later it will be the turn of outdoor cigarette advertising, then, in 2023, no advertising for heated tobacco should remain on the streets or on any other medium. From January 2024, the electronic cigarette will follow the same path.