Tobacco Advertising

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ng children and teens are the easiest target for Tobacco Companies. Tobacco Companies have found ways to dodge the restrictions and regulations that the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have put into action. Though Tobacco Companies claim their forms of advertising does not influence children and teenagers, their advertising techniques and icons clearly have a huge effect on young audiences.
Some people may wonder why there are restrictions on tobacco advertising, and others will give facts to argue reasons why. The FDA believes Tobacco Companies aim their products towards minors though Tobacco Companies deny they do, yet they claim their target audience is from the ages 18 through 21. Though these are the age groups they hope to target, other age groups are being targeted as well. These age groups are children younger than the age of three years old. In the article Smooth Sell by Susan Cohen, Tye, a man who was getting an MBA in 1985 at Stanford University was driving through the south of San Francisco with his 5-year-old daughter when she spotted a Marlboro billboard that excited her so much she began squealing with delight. He explains, “She was jumping up and down and saying, ‘Look, Daddy, horses!’” as they passed the glossy image of galloping hooves splashing through a stream. Tye says he realized with a shock that, whether Philip Morris intended to or not, its imagery was reaching children (Cohen). Children have been sucked into the imagery Tobacco Companies provide to advertise their products. Dues to the imagery reaching young audiences advertising was banned on television and broadcasting.
Furthermore, since young children have been introduced and exposed to tobacco advertising, children younger than the age o...

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... fit in a community, group or gang, to escape or to relax, to feel grown up among other peers, to relieve boredom and give personal excitement, to rebel and get violent without fear, to experiment out of curiosity and the most obvious, peer pressure. These are the excuses Tobacco Companies give people when they claim their advertising is not effecting teenagers, just 18 year old and over. Not one, two, or three year younger teenagers who are under the same understanding of 18 year old when it comes to cigarettes. If Tobacco Companies don’t appreciate what the FDA is doing to their companies, such as gaining the right to put restrictions and regulation on their products, then why do they need icons to make money? The reason is because Tobacco Companies claim they need advertising icons like The Marlboro Man and Joe Camel to replace smokers who have either quit or die.

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