Big Tobacco continues to blow smoke in mirrors and damaging consumers’ health through glamorous and flashy marketing schemes. Nowadays the stakes couldn’t be higher. Big Tobacco is running new PR campaigns claiming they are doing good and are for a smoke-free world. However, they continue to aggressively market deadly cigarettes and vape products while raking in billions of dollars in profits each year. They also fight policies that would reduce tobacco use while also constantly developing newer products to hook kids and cripple adult smokers.
In 2019, the largest cigarette and smokeless tobacco companies spent $8.2 billion on advertising and promotional expenses in the United States alone, while the four top leading U.S. cigarette companies spent $7.62 billion on cigarette advertising and promotion in 2019. These Big Tobacco companies made about $22.5 million each dayin profits.
Behind “cool” and “glamorous” tobacco marketing campaigns, remains a harsh truth, – Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. In the U.S., more than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
And let’s not forget our future generations who remain vulnerable to Big Tobacco’s vape culture. Youth use of tobacco products in any form is unsafe, irrespective of whether it is smoked, smokeless, or electronic. If smoking continues at current rates, 5.6 million—or 1 out of every 13—of today’s children will ultimately die prematurely from a smoking-related illness.
There in so much as exists school-based tobacco prevention programs that are funded by Big Tobacco companies. According to the 2012 Surgeon General’s Report, tobacco industry-sponsored youth prevention programs are intended to promote positive attitudes toward the industry wherein the industry uses youth prevention efforts to convey to the public, policy makers, judges, and members of juries that it is doing something “right” about the issue of tobacco use among youth. In this way, the programs serve to promote positive attitudes about the tobacco industry, masking the true damage that Big Tobacco does in the shadows.
This is why it is imperative on all levels that we fight for the freedom from big tobacco companies through community education and other means.
Stefanie Altman Mercado
Manhattan Community Engagement Manager, NYC Smoke-Free
Public Health Solutions
