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Smoking in the Media Tobacco has plagued the world since the Native Americans introduced it to the European settlers. The dangerous effects of smoking have been devastating the bodies of in takers ever since tobacco was invented. The number of tobacco smokers has changed since the 1400’s. Now in modern times, the introduction of Radio, Television, and other forms of media, has affected smoking habits. It has been proven that consumers make choices based on sights and sounds, so now smoking companies are spending billions of dollars to advertise their products.
They take every opportunity to promote their products and even twist the truth to make their products more attractive to the public. Tobacco companies make their advertising look fun, cool, and glamorous. The public notices the effect of the advertising in the media and want to put a stop to it. Antismoking campaigns have been created to put a stop to the ads make by the tobacco companies. They have been opposing ads by producing ads themselves that show the truth behind smoking and how it can hurt them.
Smoking campaigns use a strategy of non-stopping ads and images in the media to provoke people of all ages especially teenagers to begin smoking while antismoking campaigns counter those images by showing truthful and vulgar images along with shocking statistics. The 1990’s saw a sharp turn in smoking trends as the youth of America began to smoke more than in the decades before. Young people, like teenagers and preteens, are influenced to smoke because they see their parents or others adults smoking. Another reason they start to smoke is because of peer pressure from their friends or they want to fit in.
Each day 3,000 teens and preteens start smoking. Kids as young as 12 years old begin to smoke. In the 1990s, One third of teens have taken up smoking by the age of 18, while 30% of high school seniors smoke (Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee, 33). In a 1991 study, 16% of people begin smoking at the age of 12. 21% of smokers began smoking at age 14. 25% of people began smoking when they were 16 years old. The age of 18 is where 27% of the people began to smoke and 11% of people began smoking after the age of 18 (Pringle, Laurence, 74). 0% of smoking initiation begins before the age of 19 (Tobacco and Smoking: Opposing Viewpoints, 73). The amount of teen smokers fluctuates by year. In a 1997 study 36. 4% of high school students had smoked in the past month, which was more than in 1991 when 27. 5% smoked in the past month (Heyes, Eileen, 91-92). Young smokers buy 947 million packs of cigarettes a year (Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee, 33). A billion dollars in cigarettes are sold every year to three million teens (Tobacco and Smoking: Opposing Viewpoints, 74). By 1995, less than one in four adults were smokers (Heyes, Eileen, 87).
The reason more teenagers smoked than adults lie in the advertisements made by the tobacco companies. In the 1990s about 490 billion cigarettes were consumed (Tobacco Outlook). During the early 1990s more than 50 million Americans were smokers. The number of smokers has grown in an exponential rate since (White, Larry C, 118). In the early 1990s Tobacco killed about 350,000 a year (White, Larry C, 122). As the years went on the number of deaths in the last of the 1990s have gone up to 434,000 a year (Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee, 56).
The advertisements of cigarettes in the media have created these statistics in the 1990s. Without the marketing of cigarettes, statistics would have been much lower, more like statistics back in the early times when tobacco was being used. In the 1990’s, companies have paid their way into peoples lives by the large amount of ads they contain in the media. In the mid 1990s tobacco companies were spending 700 million dollars a year on advertising and 4 billion on other forms of marketing (Pringle, Laurence, 66). As of 2006, tobacco companies spend $327 billion a year in ads, $10 million a day.
In total the tobacco industry spends about $42 million a day on advertising and promotions in the U. S. Companies want 5,600 new smokers a day to make up for the ones that die or quit. Tobacco companies have been quoted comparing the addictiveness of nicotine to Gummi Bears, M, television, and coffee (Crispin Porter and Bogusky. Facts. 2006. The Truth. 5/5/2006). They try to get rid of the bad image of cigarettes by comparing them to common, harmless addictions. In a survey of 1,396 teens 12-18, the 86% of underage smokers prefer the 3 most heavily advertised brands, Marlboro, Camel and Newport. 9% of smokers smoke Marlboro. Marlboro ads give a “macho” feeling, showing strength and independence (Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee, 33). The 2nd most smoked brand is Camel and the 3rd most smoked brand is Newport (Tobacco and Smoking: Opposing Viewpoints, 74). These companies seduce children and teens by presenting cigarettes as desirable, socially acceptable, glamorous, cool, safe and healthy (Tobacco and Smoking: Opposing Viewpoints, 75). These smoking companies always sell fantasy, not reality. Cigarettes are a product that, without its constant advertising, would not be popular.
Billions of dollars are spent on the hope of making them so popular that they are found on every hand in America and soon all over the world. The different forms of advertisements were being limited after ad bans took place, bans on types of media such as Television and Radio. New ideas of how to advertise cigarettes had to be put into action before their marketing sales fell. By 1990 tobacco companies began paying Baseball, Football, Basketball and Hockey teams to advertise in their stadiums and arenas. The ads were usually placed where viewers at home were certain to see them.
This was a more subtle way of advertising cigarettes on television since there was a ban on direct advertisement (Pringle, Laurence, 68). Magazines are another type of media where tobacco companies still advertise. In Fashion Magazines and Women’s Magazines, cigarette ads are directed to females. The ads associate smoking to fashion, beauty, and to being slender by using words like slim, thin and light (Pringle, Laurence, 75). Magazines featuring tobacco ads are 38% less to write about the dangerous risks of smoking than magazines who do not endorse tobacco ads.
Women Magazines that advertise cigarette ads are 50% less likely to write about antismoking ads. When the quantity of cigarette ads go up, the quantity of articles against smoking go down (Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee, 35). Movies are not allowed to directly advertise cigarettes but smoking is still seen on the big screen. Many times people can catch a famous celebrity smoking a cigarette to relieve stress or to just look cool. In 1999 a study was taken of 3500 non smokers, 10-14 years old. The researchers checked on them for two years looking at their smoking and movie choices.
The ones who were avid movie goers were two and a half times more likely to smoke than the ones who rarely saw movies (McCay, William, 69). A study released in 2003 by Dartmouth Medical School unveiled why deals like the one Sylvester Stallone made mattered. Researchers found that young movie viewers whose favorite actors smoke also smoke themselves. A 16 year old made the comment, “The smoking in Chicago is consistently portrayed as incredibly sexy and cool. And how couldn’t it be sexy and cool when Catherine Zeta-Jones does it? Smoking can seem sexy and cool but the truth behind it is not exposed (McCay, William, 69). The dangers and the changes a smoker’s body goes through are not sexy or cool at all. Other forms of marketing comprise of promotional items including cents-off coupons, multiple packs (buy one, get one free), and mail-in products, where the consumers receive key chains, lighters, watches, shirts, caps and many other types of items. In 1993 Philip Morris had about 26 million people on their mailing lists (Pringle, Laurence, 66).
In 1993 tobacco companies spent $1. 6 billion on cash slotting fees (Cash slotting fees are fees paid to the retailer of each carton or package “face” that is noticeable to the customer) also on promotional items, to increase tobacco sales in retail stores (Tobacco and Smoking: Opposing Viewpoints, 78). Research demonstrates that promotional items do influence smoking among young people. In 1993 study, California researchers took teens that have never smoked and had no intention of doing so. Some of them owned promotional items from cigarette companies.
Three years later, the study found that the ones who owned promotional items were three times as likely to start smoking (Heyes, Eileen, 91). Posters of tobacco companies are being plastered everywhere. It is difficult for anyone to enter a convenience store and not see a cigarette ad. Most stores have ads from the door to the counter (Pringle, Laurence, 80-81). A 1995 study of more than 5,700 stores in California found that most of the ads were placed in stores near schools (Pringle, Laurence, 81). Stores within 1,000 feet of a school had the average of 26. 5 ads per store and 5. exterior ads (Tobacco and Smoking: Opposing Viewpoints, 78). The ways of advertising are getting more and more subtle. Tobacco products are now being placed right in front of small children at the groceries and supermarkets. Cigarette packs are being sold from shelves at a child’s eye level, like chocolate or gum (Heyes, Eileen, 90). Tobacco companies even advertise “light” cigarettes as less harmful to the smoker although these cigarettes can give the same quantities of nicotine and tar. Sneak advertising exists due to restrictions on smoking advertising.
There is a Marlboro clothing shop that is allowed to operate but can not advertise cigarettes. Companies distribute cigarettes at bars and clubs, ash trays, matches, and key chains to restaurants illegally. This is illegal because of the ad ban placed a few years back, but because of weak enforcement of the ban, these companies still advertise in this form (Tobacco and Smoking: Opposing Viewpoints, 97). Tobacco companies are getting more and more cunning when it comes to subtle advertising. To make advertising more practical, tobacco companies have created target groups.
The biggest target group is teens and children. When tobacco advertising no longer attracted new adult smokers, the industry began targeting kids. Smoking companies have taken a new and strong interest in teenagers and children in the past couple of decades. Cigarette companies now target youth because older customers are dying or managing to quit. Younger people embody the companies’ hope of preserving the sales in the U. S. In studies it has been shown that there are not many people who start smoking after the age of 20 (Pringle, Laurence, 72).
The teenage years are the most influential, which proves to be better for the tobacco companies. Teens are primary sources of new smokers. The Camel smoking company has devised a new cartoon to attract teenagers and children of all ages. His name is Joe Camel. Joe Camel’s sunglasses, saxophone, and cool clothes appeal to teens. He even appeal to children younger than 10 (Pringle, Laurence, 83). He is so heavily advertised that even children as young as three years old can correctly identify him and the company that he is associated with.
Joe Camel is recognized by three to six year olds almost as easily as Mickey Mouse (Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee, 33). A study in 1991 showed that a third of three year olds knew who Joe Camel and that it had something to do with cigarettes. 90% of six year olds understood this and 98% of high school students recognized the connection with Joe Camel his brand camel cigarettes (Heyes, Eileen, 89). Other research shows that nearly all teens recognize Joe Camel, whereas only 72% of adults did (Pringle, Laurence, 83). Another popular campaign character is the Marlboro man.
Teenagers are attracted to him because they can relate to him. The Marlboro man is a somber-faced loner. He has a more different appeal than that of the lively sociable young adults in the ads of other brands. He is independent, on his own, in control of a thundering herd of powerful animals, a man who could meet any challenge. Teenagers have been known to go through identity crises and are looking for someone they can identify with, someone who can represent their feelings and who they think they are. The Marlboro man is that kind of someone.
The fact that he is a loner and he is independent appeals to teenagers (Heyes, Eileen, 87). Smoking companies have strategically put billboard ads near the places where teens gather together to grab their attention to these characters (Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee, 33). In 1995, Bill Clinton said, “Teenagers don’t just happen to smoke. They’re the victims of billions of dollars of marketing and promotional campaigns designed by top psychologists and advertising experts. These campaigns have one inevitable consequence: to start children on a lifetime habit of addiction to tobacco. ” (Pringle, Laurence, 72).
This quote is completely true. Without the force smoking companies have on teens and kids with their ads, most of today’s kids would not be smoking. Adolescents and children are not the only target groups in the eyes of the tobacco companies; minorities and working types also attract the tobacco companies. Because fewer adults were smoking, companies were now targeting the groups that have the hardest time quitting: blue collar workers, woman and blacks (Pringle, Laurence, 72). In 1995 Camel Cigarettes came up with a new marketing plan to boost sales by targeting homeless and homosexuals.
Their plan was called “Project SCUM: Sub Culture Urban Marketing” “Problems with self-esteem”, “Has a menial boring job”, “Emotionally insecure”, “Passive aggressive”, “Grooming not a strong priority”, and “Lacks inner resources”, are terms taken from a tobacco company’s files that have been used to depict a variety of groups of potential customer (Crispin Porter and Bogusky. Facts. 2006. The Truth. 5/5/2006). In a document released by Liggett in 1997, the report said, “Spanish and Negro groups like to purchase only the best of everything-they are not looking for bargains…. here must be a racial slant in marketing efforts…. ” “…promotion must be smart and sophisticated. ” This was a comment made to appeal to the Jewish market (Heyes, Eileen, 97). Cigarette companies use cultural stereotypes to boost their sales. It has been thought that with all those smoking ads, where are ones countering them? Society was thinking the same thing, so individuals began taking action along with the government. In Chicago, inner-city church members and the surgeon general protested against cigarette billboards being too close to schools and in too many neighborhoods.
There were similar protests in New York, Baltimore, Dallas and Detroit. Joseph W. Cherner, former worker on Wall St. , spends $100,000 each year to fight against tobacco ads in NY. He started antismoking contest that brought in 107,000 antismoking posters from students. Cherner has also helped ban tobacco ads in NY buses and subways (Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee, 51). The media contains funny antismoking campaigns like cartoons; Garry Trudeau makes a comic strip called “Doonesbury”. He uses Mr. Butt to make fun of reasons for smoking. Far Side”, another cartoon that Gary Larson produces, had three trucks carrying ads, one showing Joe Camel with sly smile holding pack of cigs as a way of death (Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee, 52). There are also paid advertisements in the media going against smoking. Celebrities are also in the fight against smoking: Nancy Reagan started the “Just Say No” program. Reverend Jesse Jackson, Ben Vereen, and Michael Jordon have also given a hand in antismoking campaigns. Orlando Woolridge, of the L. A Lakers, and rap star Deezer D have produced TV ads for a $26. million antismoking campaign. MTV has launched RAD, Rockers Against Drugs, with Jon Bon Jovi. Since 1985, TV networks give $275 million worth of time to anti-drug ads. The Government spends about $20 million a year on antismoking campaigns (Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee, 54-56). In 1997 antismoking activists and the government pressured Camel Cigarettes to drop Joe Camel from their advertising (Heyes, Eileen, 89). Many individuals and the Government tried to make a change in smoking statistics. More and more antismoking commercials are being seen today on television.
Since the smoking commercials have been banned from television, anti smoking commercials have taken their place and now are trying to outweigh the effects of the other forms of smoking advertising. Behind those commercials are the antismoking campaigns, these campaigns function through the internet. A famous antismoking campaign is “The Truth”. Their website, www. TheTruth. com, contains the dirty facts of smoking companies and their actions. It also has information on the effects of smoking on the body, effects of smoking on the world, and the repulsive ingredients and chemicals in a cigarette.
The commercials they produce come across very strong and show disturbing images that leave the viewer thinking twice about taking up smoking or smoking their next cigarette. One of their current commercials has The Truth representatives going around New York City with big orange arrows, on the orange arrows are the terms that cigarette companies use to categorize their clients. Terms like “Problems with self-esteem”, “Has a menial boring job”, “Emotionally insecure”, “Passive aggressive”, “Grooming not a strong priority”, and “Lacks inner resources” (Crispin Porter and Bogusky.
Facts. 2006. The Truth. 5/5/2006). They follow people in the streets with the arrow pointing at them. On their website, under the video, they write, “Turns out New Yorkers don’t get all warm and fuzzy when you point them out with a big orange arrow. Wonder what they thought of what Big Tobacco was saying about them? ” (Crispin Porter and Bogusky. Facts. 2006. The Truth. 5/5/2006). The Truth has a unique way of expressing the ugly reality of smoking and the companies. To the public they reveal some of the mysteries behind tobacco companies.
Smoking statistics have changed since the 1990s. The tobacco industry increased its budget on advertisements and promotions by $2. 7 billion between 2002 and 2003. In 2003, about $15 billion were spent on advertising (Report to Congress: 1999 to 2005). In 2004 about 388 billion cigarettes were consumed (Tobacco Outlook). 44. 5 million Americans were smokers (Raw Data from the National Health Interview Survey, U. S. , 1997-2004). Among middle school students, 23. 4% were tobacco users. 56% of high school students were tobacco users. Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students-United States, 2004). In 2004, 15. 6 million 12 graders were daily smokers (National Survey Results on Drug Use From the Monitoring of the Future Study, 1975-2004). 63% of high school smokers have said that they want to quit. Everyday about 3,900 kids ages 12-17 try a cigarette for the first time. Now in 2006, there are 8. 5 million people sick with diseases caused by smoking. Today, in the U. S about 1,200 people will die from a smoking related disease.
In 2005 about 440,000 died from a smoking related disease (Crispin Porter and Bogusky. Facts. 2006. The Truth. 5/5/2006). The statistics have changed since the 1990s, they have gone down. The change is due to the increase in antismoking commercials and campaigns in the media. They have shocked the public by revealing the truth behind the tobacco industry. The vulgarity of images in antismoking commercials has made the people of America rethinking their decision to smoke. With all these antismoking campaigns, you got to wonder “Do they actually work? Yes in fact they do. According to an article on CBS News, smoking has been steadily declining in America (Anti-Smoking Campaigns Work. “Anti-Smoking Campaigns Work. ” Health Watch. 4/3/2006. CBS News). Because of the changes made by antismoking campaigns and legislatures, the number of smokers has gone down since the 1990s. The tobacco companies has notice the change and have been trying to fight the change even to this day. They have increased their spending budget in advertising and boost the amount of promotional items, billboards, and posters.
They also rely on the people to spread smoking habits. The tobacco industry depend on the ads and images in the media to maintain good sales from clients of all ages, especially the youth culture, meanwhile antismoking campaigns are opposing those type of advertising by revealing the hard truth behind tobacco companies and their real motives. Tobacco companies will go through hell and back to get more clients and please their current ones. They will do their best to convince the public that cigarettes are not as dangerous as people say they are.
And the tobacco industry will spend billions to seduce new customers, no matter what age they are. Apparently they do not mind going as low as selling to a two year old, as long as they are making a profit. This shows how corrupt tobacco companies can be. Some consumers do not even realize what has pushed them to start smoking. The amounts of images and ads are in such large numbers that the person’s eyes has gotten so used to them. When they see an ad they interpret it just as they would if they had seen a cloud. The media plays a strong role in the statistics of smokers and deaths.
They can also help the statistics go down. Without antismoking campaigns, the smoking statistics would be jumping off the roof. Everywhere you turn, you would find a smoker, and possibly even in your own mouth. Antismoking campaigns have put tobacco companies in a new light, a light that they never wanted the public to see. Campaigns reveal the nasty truth behind the motives of tobacco companies. The antismoking campaigns level out the amount of smokers, bringing the statistics down. When it comes down to it all, who is more dangerous, the tobacco industry or the media?