Tobacco Advertisements Essay -- Marketing, Legal Issues, Smoking

Tobacco advertisements have been a sensitive subject in America especially among parents who do not want their children to become smokers. I know from personal experience that tobacco is extremely toxic and can do major bodily harm. My grandfather was a chain smoker for over twenty years. He started smoking in his late teens and he died from lung problems that were caused by his addiction to cigarette smoking. My father is also a chain smoker and he started smoking when he was sixteen. He is starting to experience the same problems that my grandfather had due to his chain smoking. This history of smokers in my family has struck a cord in me. It has caused me to look further at the history of tobacco advertisements aimed to people under the age of eighteen, past precedent in court that was passed based on these advertisements, and current trends in tobacco advertisements today. The first print tobacco advertisements that used celebrities as the main focus of the advertisements came about during the 1950’s in America. Huge celebrities such as Phillip Morris would endorse cigarette smoking in print advertisements. This type of marketing technique involves many social psychological theories. One theory is the Social Impact Theory. According to three authors the Social Impact Theory is, â€Å" . . . interprets â€Å"social pressure† quite literally: people experience psychological forces pressing on them, just as they experience physical forces such as sound and weight† (Breckler, Olson, and Wiggins 431). One sub-category of this theory is the Liking Technique. According to Steven Breckler, James Olson, and Elizabeth Wiggins the Liking Technique is, â€Å" A strategy to increase compliance, based on the fact that people are more likely ... ... that they must â€Å"spend $500 million a year on anti-tobacco advertising† (397). The problem with this is that some people such as McLaren question if these â€Å"anti-tobacco advertisements† really have an effect on the consumers in specific, consumers under the age of eighteen. (See exhibit B). Language in tobacco advertisements have certainly evolved and adapted itself since the 1950’s. It is under constant watch by the FDA, which was made possible by class action suits that ultimately led to legislation such as the Tobacco Control Act, and the FDA Tobacco Regulation Bill. If people under the age of eighteen become more informed on the facts of language in tobacco advertisements, then they will probably be less likely to smoke a cigarette. So hopefully future generations will be the solution to this controversial subject of language in tobacco advertisements.