Recently, tobacco commercials have been making a frightening uprise on
American television under the guise that they are actually anti-tobacco and are trying to discourage
teenage smoking. Of course, this is total
bullshit. The
tabacco companies want as much exposure as they possibly can, silently hoping that they will pick up more and more customers for their
cancer sticks. Television only means that they get more exposure to kids, who are an excellent market considering their relatively long life spans and easily-molded minds. If you look at the
commercials produced by tobacco companies, it's obvious that the kids who don't smoke are supposed to be total losers; they're supposed to be the dull-witted, blind followers of society--the faceless community who is afraid of individualism. They're still promoting this
smoking is cool image, but without the fancy
cartoons.
On another note, as of Super Bowl Sunday 2001, the American Legacy Foundation (the anti-tobacco group that is behind The Truth anti-tobacco group) been running ads against the tobacco settlement ads (you know, the obnoxious "We're Changing" ads by Philip Morris) featuring a man with an electrolarynx (props to infinityseeker) stating the tabacco settlement excerpts word for word. A bit sick, but, in my humble opinion, effective.
Finally, I have to admit one thing. Yes, maybe I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to tabacco companies. Sure, you might be thinking "why does he care?" or "let me make my own mistakes," but you aren't the reason why Big Tabacco pisses me off so much. My father and my great uncle were both smoking far before it was widely known that tobacco was deadly. Sure, everyone knew that it wasn't good for you, but the extensive damage that it causes was simply unknown. They were never told that they were starting a habit which could very well end their lives, even when the companies knew how deadly it was. For that, I say a big "fuck you" to Big Tobacco. For that, I wish them nothing but their downfall.