Smoking: The Advertising They Don’t Give You… By: Ricky Lockwood Sandra Owen KH 3000

The main problem with marketing cigarettes is that the advertising is shown to be appealing to the youth of today. Marketers portray smoking cigarettes as being a way to become an independent adult. These type of advertisements can be found in sports magazines, sponsored sporting events, fashion magazines, and in music videos ( The reason why this is a problem is because we now have the research that shows that smoking is a major risk factor for a number of different health diseases. Smoking is a main contributor of diseases such as, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease ( Marketers neglect to include all the possible health related risks that come with smoking cigarettes. Statement of the Problem

Significance to optimal health men who smoke cigarettes are at a 22 times higher risk of dying from lung cancer, then people who don’t smoke cigarettes. women who smoke cigarettes are at a 12 times higher risk of dying from lung cancer. the risk for cancers of the lip, oral cavity, and pharynx; esophagus; pancreas; larynx; lung; uterine cervix; urinary bladder; and kidney are increased by cigarette smoking. African-American men have the highest rate of cancers related to smoking. racial/ethnic groups have varied rates of cigarette related cancers. Reference:

Significance to optimal health... Cardiovascular Disease People who smoke cigarettes are 2-4 times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than nonsmokers. A person’s risk for a stroke approximately doubles by smoking cigarettes. Cigarette smoking causes reduced circulation by narrowing the blood vessels (arteries). Smokers are more than 10 times as likely as nonsmokers to develop peripheral vascular disease. Reference:

Significance to optimal health... Cigarette smoking is associated with an extreme increase in the risk of dying from chronic obstructive lung disease. About 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung diseases can be contributed to smoking cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes has many harmful reproductive and early childhood effects, including an increased risk for infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Postmenopausal women who smoke cigarettes have lower bone density than women who have never smoked. Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture than nonsmokers. Reference:

“The adverse health effect from smoking cigarettes accounts for 440,000 deaths, or nearly 1 of every 5 deaths, each year in the United States. More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined (

Possible Solutions Tobacco Settlement Agreement “The tobacco settlement agreement, officially known as the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), is an accord reached in 1998 between the state Attorney’s General of 46 states, five U.S. territories, the District of Columbia and America’s major tobacco companies concerning the advertising, marketing and promotion of tobacco products. The MSA was signed after four prior agreements were entered by the major manufacturers with the states of Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Texas. The tobacco settlement agreements set standards for, and impose significant restrictions on, the advertising, marketing, and promotional activities of participating cigarette manufacturers. Among the many provisions, the MSA: forbids participating cigarette manufacturers from directly or indirectly targeting youth. Imposes significant prohibitions or restrictions on advertising, marketing, and promotional programs or activities. Bans or restricts cartoons, transit advertising, most forms of outdoor advertising including billboards, product placement in media, branded merchandise, free product samples and most sponsorships (

Cigarette companies have learned how to appear to comply with the rules of the MSA yet still reach young magazine readers. Several studies have been done to show that the three main tobacco makers - Philip Morris, Brown and Williamson, and R.J. Reynolds - have spent over $1 billion on magazine advertising. Cigarette companies have had to become more discrete about it but they continue to aim their advertising at people under the age of 18. The MSA, which requires tobacco manufacturers to pay 46 states $250 billion to avert costly lawsuits from smokers with health problems, expressly forbids companies from taking any action, directly or indirectly to target youth by advertising, promoting, or marketing tobacco products. The edge that tobacco companies get is that the MSA agreement between tobacco makers and states does not clearly define clear limits on advertising in magazines that might reach young people. Nor does it tell ways to detect efforts that intentionally target young readers. These violations have been made possible because of the MSA’s failure to relate the ban with respect to magazines. “in 2001, cigarette companies spent $11.2 billion, or more than $30 million per day, on advertising and promotional expenses. This amounted to more than $39 for every person in the United States, or $241 for each adult smoker, and was a 17% increase over the previous year. Tobacco industry advertising and promotional expenditures nearly doubled in size since 1997 (

In the United States, the tobacco industry links smoking with being “cool”, taking a risk, and a part of the growing up process. While this is going on, tobacco companies are saying that they insist that they do not want children to smoke cigarettes. They use slick ad campaigns that are only used as a public relation to gain industry credibility. In these “no- smoke” programs, they are really encouraging teens to smoke because they leave out all of the important health risks. By leaving out the health dangers, ignoring addiction, and glamorizing smoking as an “adult custom,” these campaigns are really just reinforcing the industry’s advertising theme, which presents smoking as a way to practice independence and be grown up ( Among young people, the short-term health consequences of smoking include respiratory and non-respiratory effects, addiction to nicotine, and the associated risk of other drug use. Long-term health consequences of youth smoking are reinforced by the fact that most young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke throughout adulthood. Dr. Richard Stein, American Heart Association, says that “a ban on advertising is critical. As several important studies have shown, underage smokers are strongly influenced by tobacco advertisements…Each day that we waiver on laws regulating the tobacco industry, 1,000 more people die from tobacco-related illnesses ( The following site is a great resource for the effects of smoking on your body…