It is a common tactic of marketers to target a younger audience to establish brand awareness. They do this so that children will grow up with their product and when they are old enough they will purchase their product. A perfect example of this is Camel Cigarettes and their playful, cool mascot, Joe Camel. These ads ran during programming that was intended for young audiences and now if you are a smoker, I’m sure that you remember Joe.
Targeting such a young market seems like a terrible thing, but Camel and other cigarette manufacturers were doing this up until the late 90’s. Commercials and other advertisements are not the only place that we as a society are bombarded with the image of people smoking. Over half of kids who start smoking before the age of 16 say that they saw it in movies. We are all aware of the impact that smoking has on our health, so why is media exposing our youth to this?
Campaigns like TRUTH have made it their whole purpose to educate young Americans on the dangers of smoking. Just like the tobacco companies were doing, organizations that are against smoking have also targeted children, which makes a huge impact on their parents. When kids see ads about 5.4 million deaths a year from tobacco usage, it is making them confront their smoking parents.
In recent years the discovery of second hand smoking has also become an issue that is clearly portrayed in modern media. The toddler sitting in their car seat telling the viewer that they smoke before going to day care pulls at all of our heart strings. No one would allow their toddler to smoke at such a young age, or would they? A video has swept the world through the social media stream recently that shows a 2-year-old smoking. After viewing the images and videos of this little boy it has outraged a number of parents and understandably so. On average, smokers die 15 years earlier than non-smokers. Why would you want that for your child?
When we are not being attacked by an advertisement on TV or magazines, we still get hit with ads for smoking online. The average American is online for about 8.5 hours a day. It is no wonder that social media and other Internet venues have become some of the most popular places to get advertising space. The power that media has on our culture in the United States is very high. We have been trained to believe that you are “cool” if you smoke. Or that smoking makes you appear more beautiful. How far are we really willing to go to achieve this perceived social status? Even if a smoker is not killed directly from the effects of smoking, they will probably have smoking related illnesses like bronchitis, emphysema, or some form of cancer.
Just as the media has skewed the view of cigarettes, they have also made it seem like a game to try multiple different methods to quit smoking. Preying on the failure of the common person. What the ads for the chewing gums, patches, and electric cigarettes don’t tell you is that on your own you will probably fail. Yes, you will probably have the support of your family, but they are your family and have to support you in everything you do. The commitment to stop smoking is one of the most important parts of smoking cessation. If you do not want to stop, you probably won’t regardless of what treatments you try. Having an additional support system is helpful for more successful quitting endeavors. Not only that, but a complete lifestyle change including dietary change is also going to help.
The media is used as a method of making money for these large companies. Is smoking really worth it? Read more about methods of smoking cessation with Alpha Life Style Center.
