What are some arguments in favor of a total ban on cigarette advertising?
What are some arguments in favor of a total ban on cigarette advertising?
What are some arguments in favor of a total ban on cigarette advertising? In an attempt to reach a massive potential market, companies have an array of options to choose from, but advertisement has proven to be an avoidable choice in this pursuit. Since all companies have the right to buy air time on any media to advertise their product, alcohol and tobacco manufacturing companies have taken this advantage to spread their products (Harrison, Roy, and Waun 59-65). However, there have been debates for decades about whether these two products must be abolished. Because high health risks are associated with the consumption of alcohol and tobacco products, women, adolescents, and expectant mothers are the most vulnerable. Besides being naturally dangerous, they are causal factors of various diseases. These include various cancers, respiratory complications, liver cirrhosis, and heart diseases (Watson, Victor, and Sherma 284-289). In cases of long-term use, they result in deaths. Therefore, since lives are more precious than economic gains from alcohol and tobacco, their advertisements should be blocked, and efforts directed to sweep them out of the community entirely.
What are the issues of cigarette advertising?
In advertising alcohol and tobacco products, persuasive approaches are implemented where images of healthy people drinking and smoking while having merry moments are used. According to research by Haustein and David, the mythical imageries applied have a tremendous impact on adolescence (5-8). Annually, programs have been trying to save fifty percent of adolescents who indulge in these harmful substances. Still, with the frequent adverts in media, the effort and resources channeled for it go to waste. As a result, school dropouts, early pregnancy, and high infection rates of sexually transmitted diseases have been registered in adolescents under the influence of alcohol and tobacco. Notably, their academic performance and health deteriorate (Schmitz and Richard 68). Ultimately, they become societal bothers since they stare head societal problems, including crimes, rape cases, and poverty. Therefore, to curb these menaces and save innocent adolescents, alcohol and tobacco advertisement masterminding the whole mess should be abolished.
What are some arguments in favor of a total ban on cigarette advertising?
Regarding diseases, statistics depict that approximately more than a million people perish from the direct and indirect effects of alcohol and tobacco annually in the United States alone. Cigarettes alone contribute seventy percent of the statistics through cancer and respiratory-related infections (Bayard 34). Also, nonsmokers who, by accident, inhale the unfiltered chemical content of tobacco smoke are highly vulnerable. Pregnant women using tobacco or alcohol risk themselves and the babies they are exacting. As a result, they are likely to give birth to babies with fatal alcohol disorder (FAD) and or fetal alcohol effects (FAE) (Watson, Victor, and Sherma 305).
Further, these children are prone to suffering mental disorientations in the future. On the other hand, deaths emanating from a fire started by carelessly dropped cigarette filters have claimed thousands of lives yearly. Considering the two regarding human health, physical safety, and well-being, cigarette, and alcohol advertisement should be abolished.
How effective is an EU ban on tobacco advertising likely to be for reducing smoking?
Economically, these two products are among the highly taxed, making them significant gross domestic product contributors. Heavy tax levies have been applied to discourage users (Bayard 43). But, there are advertisements by the companies to count tackle that, where consumers of these drugs can win prizes out of continuous consumption. This has not only swayed people but also deteriorated users of these substances economically. Both being addictive substances, their users cannot control their consumption rate. This has impacted the financial irresponsibility of parents affected since they overspend on the drags forgetting their family responsibilities (Harrison, Roy, and Waun 78). Therefore, why should alcohol and tobacco advertisements still stand with the kinds of damage they cause?
In summation, health hazards impacted by both alcohol and tobacco as a result of misleading adverts are worrying and need urgent response measures to curb further damages. Adolescents’ lack of informed and autonomous decisions makes them susceptible to false adverts on alcohol and tobacco. In totality, these drugs need to be made entirely illegal,l, starting with banning their adverts.
Works Cited
Bayard, Steven P. Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders. Washington, DC: Office of Health and Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1992. Print.
Harrison, Louis B, Roy B. Sessions, and Waun K. Hong. Head and Neck Cancer: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2008. Print.
Haustein, K.-O, and David Groneberg. Tobacco or Health?Berlin: Springer, 2010. Print.
Schmitz, Cecilia M, and Richard A. Gray. Smoking: The Health Consequences of Tobacco Use: an Annotated Bibliography with Analytical Introduction. Ann Arbor, Mich: Pierian Press, 1995. Print.
Watson, Ronald R, Victor R. Preedy, and Sherma Zibadi. Alcohol, Nutrition, and Health Consequences. New York: Humana Press, 2013. Print.