It’s a sad fact that cigarette ads work on kids. Children who regularly see tobacco advertisements are twice as likely to start smoking as ones who don’t. That’s why every EU country has banned cigarette billboards… except one.

The big exception? Germany.

Huge ads for regular and electronic cigarettes are allowed everywhere in Germany, even right next to schools. Parliamentarians in the centre-right CDU/CSU parties know how deadly effective these ads are -- yet they’d rather keep tobacco corporations and their lobbyists happy than keep children safe.

But dissent is brewing in the German government. The federal drug commissioner herself has just spoken in favour of a ban. If we act now and gather as much public support as possible, we’ve got a real chance of getting a vote on the table -- and winning.

Smoking is a serious problem in Germany -- especially among kids. Over 110,000 children smoke every day, a higher rate than the European average. More and more of them are trying e-cigarettes, which Phillip Morris and co. promote as a cooler, healthier tobacco alternative.

Smoking kills nearly 125,000 Germans every year. We can’t let Big Tobacco keep profiting off those deaths while continuing to sign up new recruits with its billboards. A couple of years ago, the German government almost banned the ads -- including ads for e-cigarettes -- but it got thwarted at the last minute.

Every other country in the EU has put its foot down. It’s time Germany did as well.

If the SumOfUs community comes together, we can show the holdouts in the German government that they’re on the wrong side of history. It worked earlier this year, when we convinced the EU commission to stand up to Bayer’s lobbyists and ban three of the worst bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides. With tobacco corporations, we’re up against a $346 billion juggernaut -- but as we’ve proven time and time again, our people power is stronger than the industry’s money.

We know that given enough public pressure, the CSU/CDU will start valuing kids’ health over the interests of Big Tobacco. It’s up to us to make the government go cold turkey on the lobbyists. Will you help get them to kick the habit?

Tell the German parliament you support a ban on outdoor tobacco ads!

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