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THE subtle art
of the spin bowler has a lot to do with the success of the
Indian cricket team. But commercial sponsorship of the team
also puts a subtle spin on the message that India's children
receive when they tune in to watch their sporting heroes.
Unlike the
test cricketers, India's children cannot spot the "wrong 'un".
Researchers in Britain and India have found that when the
tobacco industry sponsors test matches, the children think
that smoking has something to do with India's success-even
though none of the test team smokes.
The India-New
Zealand cricket series was shown live on television in India
in October and November 1995, and was heavily sponsored by
tobacco firm W. D. & H. O. Wills, a subsidiary of BAT
Industries. The company's logo appeared prominently on all the
players' clothes as well as around the cricket ground.
Cigarette adverts also featured prominently during the match
broadcasts.
A couple of
months after the competition Jayant Vaidya, a cancer surgeon
at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, and colleagues at the
Goa Cancer Society and carried out surveys of children aged 13
to 16 from 53 of Goa's high schools.
More than 75
per cent of the 1948 students knew that tobacco was as
addictive as heroin, caused cancer and heart disease and
reduced lifespan. Even so, 100 of the 1275 children who
watched the matches were tempted to try cigarettes afterwards.
Among the 605 children who had not seen the matches, only 29
tried cigarettes.
Although all
the youngsters were aware that cigarette companies were just
sponsors, many made false associations between smoking and
sport. Not a single player in the Indian team smoked in 1995.
But 1110 children thought that at least one player did, while
428 children thought at least four team members were
smokers.
The
researchers found that children who believed there were no
smokers in the team were significantly less likely to
experiment with cigarettes than those who thought some were
smokers.
Only 1.7 per
cent of the children who thought the retired Indian cricket
hero Sunil Gavaskar was a nonsmoker had tried cigarettes
compared with 5.5 per cent of those who thought he smoked.
Some children
thought that smoking actually made you a better cricketer.
Nearly 7 per cent of children thought that cigarettes made you
stronger and 6 per cent thought they improved your chances of
winning. "When a child is watching TV he sees Wills on the
bat," says Vaidya, " and he thinks that must be why he
wins."
Indeed, the
idea that smoking improves your game was the single most
significant factor in persuading children to try
cigarettes-overriding their knowledge of the dangers of
smoking. The perception that players smoked was the second
most important factor, followed by simply watching the series,
the researchers report in the latest issue of the British
Medical Journal.
Also last
week, the National Audit Office reported that the British
Government's health targets on young people and smoking are
unlikely to be met. The number of 11 to 15-year-olds smoking
has increased, from 8 per cent in 1988 to 12 per cent in
1994. | 
