Ugly campaign unleashed

Female students in Saudi Arabia are being advised not to smoke so as not to ruin their looks, according to a story in the Gulf News citing the Saudi news site Sabq.

A campaign launched by the Tobacco and Narcotics Combat Charity Society (Kafa) in the Red Sea city of Jeddah is telling the students that smoking is bad for their health and for their appearances.

Under the Do Not Spoil Your Beauty campaign, the girls are given presentations on the negative effects of cigarettes on their lungs as well as on their looks.

The campaign claims specifically that smoking is not ladylike, that it affects teeth and creates black pockmarks on faces.

Salwa Saruji, head of the women’s section at Kafa, said that the number of women taking up smoking and going to cafés was increasing and needed strong action.

Saruji did not give figures, but official data indicate that about 600,000 Saudi women smoke cigarettes, making up one tenth of the total smoking population. These figures are said to include a significant number of expatriates and intermediate and high school students.

Female smokers in Saudi usually smoke their first cigarettes when they are 15 years old.

Smoking among women is more prevalent in the cities than in rural areas.