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Candy-flavored Cigs not aimed at kids... And more BS! |
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Reynold Tobacco (Or RJR), the company that brought us Joe Camel, is up to its old tricks, targeting our children AGAIN.
Twenty yaers ago RJR created Joe Camel, Who blew smoke rings over Times Square and was so heavily promoted that more children recognized this cartoon character than Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse. Only after years of complaints from public health advocates and parents, AND the threat of legal action by the Federal Trade Comission, did RJR shut down its Joe Camel campaign.
All the while, RJR maintained that it did not market to childern. But the release of internal company documents years later, One of RJR's key papers, "Young Smokers -- Ages 14-25," Revealed the company's interest in marketing cigarretes to young smokers.
Now RJR is marketing the sweet smell and taste of flavored cigarettes that mask the harshness of beefed up, "Natural" Tobacco, whoch can deter some first time smokers, Especially children. These cigarettes are packaged in shiny tins with "cool" new names, Flashy advertisements, and candy flavors ranging from watermelon (Beach Breezer) to berry (Bayuo Blast) all the way to Pineapple and coconut (Kauai Kolada).
As Reynolds has known for Decades, 90 percent of adult smokers became addicted as kids, and the younger a child begin to smoke, the likelier the child is to become addicted. Moreover, The age at which kids try cigarettes has been declining and now stands at just under 12. By masking the tobacco flavor and scent, Flavored cigarettes amke it even MORE appealing for a 11 or 12 year old to take the initial puff and keep smoking until they become hooked.
Reynolds introduced these cigarettes in 1999, slipping a pellet into the filters to give the smoke a candy flavor. But flavored cigarette sales really exploded in 2004, thanks to eye-catching advertisements in magazines such as, Cosmoplitan, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (WTF? I thought SI hated cigarettes and that they made your lungs all smaller. Guess I was wrong) And the Rolling Stones-- All popular reading material for Minors. In mid-2005 under pressure from states such as California and from State Legislators, Reynolds began pullling these Ads. BUT the companies still Aims to target children.
Reynolds' claim that it flavors cigarettes to give Adults a break from traditional smokes is belied by the findings of the Roswell Park Cancer institue in buffalo, N.Y. Tgat research institute found that, Compared with adult smokers over 25, more than three times as many teens who smoke flavored cigarettes.
This isn't the first time the company has targeted members of a specific group,hoping to hook them as lifetime smokers. Reynolds BALTENTLY aimed it "Uptown", menthol, Nonfiltered, %20 bigger cigarettes at African American consumers with plans to ionaugurate the brand during Black History Month in 1990. Louis sullivan, Then secretary of health and human services, denounced the marketing of uptown cigarettes-- the first time a Cabinet member had spoken out against a specific brand. As opposition rose aginst the African Americans, Reynolds quickly stepped down.
Bouyed by its sucess in pushing candy-flavored cigs, Reynolds has now introduced Alchohol flavored smokes. To amke them appealing to our kids, Reynolds slapped gambling based names on them:
ScrewDriverSlots, Blackjack Gin, Snake Eyes Scotch and Back Alley Blend (A bourbon-flavored Cig).
Despite the prevalance of antional and state anti-smoking campaigns, 4,00 kids under 18 will try their first Cigarette today, And more than 1.500 other children and teens will become addicted. These are replacement smokers to fill the shoes of Adults who have been crippled or killed by smoking, Or who have quit.
The disturbing reality is that we may be starting to slip back after the years of progress in reducins smoking among children. from 1997 to 2004 the number of children who smoke went down as court cases and public outrage curbed tobacco advertising to children. But in 2005 the youth smoking rate increased. Is it a coincidence that our sucess in persuading kids to staw away from tobacco is just slowing as marketing of Candy-flavored cigarettes is picking up?
To us, hawking candy-flavored cigarettes is child abuse. It's time for the public, the parents, and state and federal officials to demand and end to it.
Please note that this was not written by me, And I found it in my newspaper! ^^
Writted by Jospeh A Califano, JR. and Louis W. Sullivan.
Hope you enjoy what I found in my local Newspaper, The Sun Herald!
www.sunherald.com
 Dementious · Thu Jul 06, 2006 @ 07:23pm · 2 Comments |
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