Let's say you own a business. Your business advertises--alot. Eventually, it is found that the product that your business sells may be harmful to the consumer's health.
Early on, doctors had claimed otherwise. They said that your product was actually good for a person. But eventually, it was discovered that your product was unhealthy. You don't outright deny these claims, but you continue to advertise. Then, the government makes you tell consumers that your product is harmful. You have no problem with that. You decide to add at the end of your adverts that your product is harmful, but you have to sell your product.
Then, the government tells you that your business can't advertise anymore. They tell you that your ads are misleading because your company targets certain demographics. They tell you that your ads are misleading because they show healthy people and happy people enjoying your product.
Sometime after that, the government tells your business that you have to pay for commercials advertising the dangers of your product. You comply, because you agree that your product is harmful. You've known that for years, and have been saying that for years.
So the TV spots run telling of the dangers of your product. Some accounts are grossly exaggerated, but you figure it's fair given the advertisements early on in your business career.
After a few years, the advertising switches gears. You don't quite notice it at first, but then it becomes clear. The adverts are no longer telling about the dangers of your products, but are instead trashing your business. The commercials are no longer educating people about the health risks involved in using your products, but instead about business decisions which you made years, decades ago that you now regret. Still, you are forced to pay for this advertising agency to not smash your product, but to instead smash you and your integrity.
Welcome to Phillip Morris. Phillip Morris is forced to pay millions of dollars for the ad council to run TV spots which now smash the 'tobacco industry.' However, instead of the 'tobacco industry' getting hurt, it is instead the consumer. The consumer has to make up the difference in loss of revenue through exorbitant prices on cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco-related products.
'Big tobacco' (as the ads sometimes call them) isn't going to go away unless smoking is banned outright. The tobacco business is a business just like any other, and the government's purpose isn't to protect people from themselves. It's up to people to make a difference, not legislators.
You have a voice: fucking use it.
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Banning bad things does not work. Look at Prohibition. We banned alcohol, the beer that people wanted was not available, only high-proof illegal moonshine sold by criminal gangs, and the alcohol problem was worsened. Look at our war on drugs. People are still dying from the use of illegal drugs. Look at our copyright laws and DMCA. People are still illegally downloading copyrighted material.
What does work is getting people to say no to it themselves. No demand for it, no sales of it, nobody in the business of making tobacco products. Of course, there will always be people in this world stupid enough to put the poison stick in their mouth and light it. So it appears that tobacco products will be a stain on the health of the world for years to come.
Thank you for your imput. I would have mentioned prohibition (as well as a slew of other bans), but it didn't work with my flow of idea. Thank you for bringing it up, though.
--Mike
A public smoking ban was put into effect in my state this year- it has brought on, as expected, TONS of negative feedback from smokers- and TONS of good from the non-smokers. However, I've been a part of, and a bystander to many discussions on the topic. Though smokers are angry that they've lost their "freedom," many of them are understanding, and they don't seem to complain about the hike in tobacco prices & taxes. Most of them say, "well, I should have never started anyway, it's my fault." A majority of them seem to understand that they're responsible for their own decision, and they don't complain about the cost. However, there is that sliver that insists that it's their God-given right to intoxicate the bodies of those around them, and swear that it's not their fault if somebody has an asthma attack in the booth next to them at Denny's.