Yes, this was a real billboard ad that was once used in Jakarta.
Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has passed a law banning the installation of billboards advertising cigarettes and tobacco products. He said the ban is aimed at protecting children from the dangers of smoking.
“We do not want a lot of cigarette advertising billboards in Jakarta,” Ahok said at City Hall today as quoted by Tempo.
Ahok said the rate of cigarette addiction in the Capital had reached alarming levels. He cited a survey of 2,000 young people in Jakarta aged 15-20 in which 43 percent admitted to smoking. Out of that percentage, 63 percent were male students.
The official name of the new law is “Governor’s Regulation No. 1 of 2015 on the Prohibition of Cigarette and Tobacco Product Advertising in Outdoor Media.” The regulation was signed by Ahok on January 7 and came into force on January 13.
Ahok said tobacco companies who had already acquired a valid license for their advertisements before the regulation came into effect could still put their advertisement up while their permits were still valid. But he said any license renewal requests would be rejected.
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