Tobacco Ads Promote Death and Disease
As we complete the American Cancer Society’s twenty-third
annual Great American Smoke-out, let me leave you with a few thoughts
until this time next year. Since
it has taken years to scientifically prove and document the deadly
effects of tobacco, the tobacco industry enjoyed, with impunity, the
opportunity to continue to advertise and promote their products.
Now that the disease and death effects of tobacco are well
known, there have been some restrictions placed on the tobacco
industry regarding advertising and promotion.
There have also been some exceedingly large awards in the U.S.
courts resulting from judgments against the tobacco industry.
However, despite these trends, one simple truth remains.
Tobacco is a product that, when used as intended, causes death
and disability. Despite
this, it is legal to promote and sell this product in virtually every
country in the world. This
practice has resulted in nearly a half a million deaths in America
each year from diseases caused by smoking and it costs the United
States nearly one hundred billion dollars each year in healthcare cost
and lost productivity.
Much of the success of the tobacco industry is through their
exceedingly robust advertising campaign (more than five billion
dollars per year, which has increased more than fourteen times since
1970). The tobacco
industry is the second largest print media advertiser and the single
largest billboard advertiser in the United States.
These advertisements never show old people lugging around an
oxygen tank with tubing strapped around their head and nasal prongs in
place to flood their airways with oxygen so that they can breath.
The never show the patients that are so severely addicted that
they cannot quit despite their own common sense and their doctor’s
advice that this is the only thing they can do to save their life and
limb. Yes, limbs are
sometimes lost in some patients who develop severe vascular disease
and many of these patients, despite what they and their doctors know,
cannot quit even to save their life.
As I write this, I vividly recall one of my former patients at
the VA hospital who, after the hospital went to a no smoking policy,
sat outdoors in front of the entrance in his wheelchair (both legs
amputated) holding a cigarette with the stubs that remained of his
fingers so that he could smoke through his tracheostomy.
These images would more accurately represent what some people
can expect from the tobacco industry’s products.
Instead, our popular household magazines like Good
Housekeeping, Better Homes & Gardens, Women’s Day
and Family Circle are replete with tobacco advertisements that
are misleading and deceptive, promoting images of smoking as fun,
sexy, glamorous, macho and even healthful.
I cannot help but look at the titles of these magazines and
wonder what there is about tobacco addiction that is consistent with good housekeeping or a better
home and garden. It
is hard for me to imagine that it can make a woman’s
day or that it is in some way an essential part of the family circle.
As you subscribe to magazines in this upcoming year,
think about this and ask yourself if you want to support those that
help promote tobacco addiction and its effects.
If not, write to the editors of your favorite magazines and let
them know how you feel or select magazines with a no tobacco
advertising policy. There
is often little that each of us may do as individuals to affect the
practice of these behemoth companies but this is one area where you
can cause an effect that will count. |
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