The Controversy Over The Use Of Cigarettes

As of 2013, about 42.1 million adults aged 18 or older currently smoke cigarettes. This accounts for 17.8% of the adult population. In 1965, this number was 42.4%. This decreased use of cigarettes could be linked to the information about how harmful nicotine and other ingredients in cigarettes are. As more people learn about these damaging effects, it can lead people to quit smoking or not start smoking at all. However, cigarette companies are still trying to advertise their product to new generations of smokers. Cigarette advertisements from the 20th century and today differ in some ways but their overall message is the same; smoking is enjoyable, glamorous, and healthy. Newport is a brand of menthol cigarettes that were introduced in 1957.

The message that is displayed in this ad is that healthy people smoke Newport cigarettes. In the ad from 1963, no health warnings are displayed. The ad from 2011, however, displays a Surgeon General’s warning that states, “Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide.” Smaller print on the ad says, “These cigarettes do not present a reduced risk of harm compared to other cigarettes.” On January 11, 1964, the Surgeon General of the United States, Luther L. Terry, M.D., released a landmark report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health. This report sparked nationwide anti-smoking efforts. The United States Congress passed the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 and the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969. These laws, designed to limit the use of smoking, required a health warning to be printed on all cigarette packages. As new information regarding the toxic effects of cigarettes continued to be discovered, more people began to quit. The FCC prohibits “the airing of advertising for cigarettes, little cigars, smokeless tobacco, and chewing tobacco on radio, TV, or any other medium of electronic communication under the FCC's jurisdiction”. Nonetheless, cigarette companies still find ways to sell their product, particularly in magazine publications that have an audience that is over the age of 21 and the Internet. The creators of these advertisements used people that are young and in good health to convey a message that healthy people smoke these