Still smoking?

Many people today including close friends of mine, find themselves caught in the routine that they have built around smoking. I do however emphasize they because nobody ever forces you to smoke. Tobacco companies may market a dangerous product but at this point who doesn’t know that? I have smoked before and you can immediately tell that it is not good for you. So in some way are people just looking for somewhere to point their fingers?
The public image of tobacco has been bad for a long time. Pretty much as soon as we figured out so many people were dying from it, we let the entire world know. From anti-smoking campaigns, to protests, to bills and acts through congress to billions of dollars thrown into stopping people from smoking. The tobacco companies don’t even try to deny the health risks, so why are people still smoking?
Tobacco companies saw a wave of lawsuits in the early 90’s forcing them to pay billions of dollars in health care retributions. Basically, advertising for cigarettes has completely gone away in America besides on billboards and only then in certain states. However in 2005 the “five largest cigarette manufacturers spent a total of $13.11 billion on promoting their products”. So how can this be possible if advertising is illegal? Good old American democracy comes into play and the cigarette companies had to reduce their own price and value, “This category accounted for 74.6 percent ($9.78 billion)”
I think that just like any other big business, the tobacco industries play their strengths and weaknesses. They get attacked by the media even though after being at Fullsail I would say 75% of the production team smokes. The media makes money and a good name for itself by going after a product that is dangerous. It is such an easy target for a political party to build up support attacking. I think if you really don’t like smoking then don’t, and don’t let your kids, until they are 18 and then they decide.


http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=44462
2007 American Lung Association®. All rights reserved.



Written by: Aaron Vetter