The tobacco industry agreed to stop using cartoon characters (such as Joe Camel) to promote tobacco products when they signed the Master Settlement Agreement in 1998. However, while agreeing to certain advertising restrictions, they certainly did NOT agree to stop marketing tobacco to children and teenagers.
For example, there has been a marked increase in starter products in the years since the Master Settlement Agreement. Starter products consist of flavored tobacco products that blur the lines between candy and tobacco. Even the packaging has been changed so that it is harder to tell exactly what you are purchasing. Starter products are not a new concept. Early starter products consisted of actual candy or toys designed for children to imitate smoking behavior. You can find examples of these itemss for every form of tobacco. Many of these products have been available for decades.
Today, you can still purchase packs of chalky-tasting candy cigarettes. They come in boxes that are the exact same size as a standard pack of cigarettes, and the boxes have similar names and designs as certain cigarette brands. Similarly, packs of chocolate cigarettes and bubble-gum cigarettes are still available. The bubble-gum cigarettes still come wrapped in paper, and you can still blow a “puff of smoke” through the wrapper created by the powder used to keep the gum from sticking to the wrapper. At least one company is in on the joke, giving their products names like Death Row and Black Lung. Isn’t that hysterical? Candy cigars are also available. The most common forms are brightly-colored bubble gum cigars. Chocolate cigars are also available. One brand of chocolate cigars has a foil wrapper that actually looks like rolled tobacco leaves, making it look exactly like a real cigar. Big League Chew is the starter product for the chewing tobacco crowd. This shredded bubble-gum product was designed by former baseball players so that kids could model their heroes with a safe alternative. Sadly, kids do just that: they model their heroes with Big League Chew in preparation for the real thing when they get older. And kids who prefer pipes still have a couple of choices! Licorice pipes are still available. And, you can still find bubble pipes… pipes that hold bubble soap allowing kids to exhale and blow bubbles. Why is this relevant? Because products such as these allow kids to imitate adult smoking behaviors. They learn to handle the products in the same way adults that they admire. Children who have parents that smoke are especially vulnerable. Candy and toys become a training ground, making it easier for kids to make the jump to real tobacco products. While candy designed to look like tobacco products is dangerous, tobacco products designed to look like candy is truly subversive. For example, our old friends at RJ Reynolds… the very same folks who were forced to retire Joe Camel… have created a new line of flavored cigarettes designed to capture the teen market. If giving the cigarettes interesting candy-flavors isn’t bad enough, they sell their new products in packages that mimic candy tins. On some of the packages, the camel logo is actually beveled to look like a piece of chocolate. Worse still, the advertisements for these products, while not technically cartoon characters, are colorfully rendered drawings clearly targeting children and teenagers. It has truly become the marketing of tobacco as candy. Cigars are also jumping on the bandwagon. Two very prominent cigar brands, Phillies and White Owl, have added flavored products to their lineup. Individual cigars can be purchased in brightly-colored tubes, making them look like brightly-colored bubble-gum cigars. At first glance, you cannot tell the difference. In addition, the bright colors certainly catch your attention when standing at a convenience store cash register. So, as usual, every time Big Tobacco makes a concession regarding the marketing of tobacco to children, they find and exploit the next loophole. It is up to us to make enough to noise to try and turn around another disturbing trend in the on-going battle to protect our kids from the devious marketing practices of the tobacco industry. |
Cigarettes ..... or Candy?
Cigarettes ..... or Candy?
Cigarettes ..... or Candy?
Bubble Gum Cigars
Chocolate Cigars
Camel Flavored Cigarettes
White Owl Flavored Cigars
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