Highfill 1 Calem Highfill Professor Linda Davidson English 111 4 April 2013 Rough Draft Big Tobacco: ____________

For decades Big Tobacco has controlled and dominated the tobacco market aiming their attention particularly at the youth. The top four tobacco companies responsible for manufacturing one of the most profitable yet destructive cash crops are Philip Morris Inc., R. J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard. Through extensive and strategic marketing, such companies have lured in younger customers using a colorful packaging and a stylish look that attempts to make the cigarettes looks more appealing and less harmful. This angle of advertising seems to be working in Big Tobaccos favor. R. J. Reynolds once said, if our company is to survive and prosper over the long term, we must get our share of the youth market.this will require new brands tailored to the youth market.(reactmt.com). Tobacco pioneers R. J. Reynolds, mostly recognized as the owner of Camel, and Phillip Morris whos most known for Marlboro, started their businesses in the mid-1800s and continue to thrive today. How did tobacco companies prosper so much and change in terms of marketing over time? Researching how Big Tobaccos advertising has evolved over the course of its career we begin by looking at its earlier ways of reaching out to the consumer market. Tobacco production flourished in the southern parts of the United States and strengthened the southern economy prior to the Civil War, until cotton became mass produced. Smoking in public was for a long time something reserved for men, and when done by women, was

Highfill 2 sometimes associated with promiscuity. (Wikipedia Tobacco). Tobacco use, mainly in cigars at the time, was associated with masculinity, wealth, and power. Experimenting in spreading the use of tobacco products Philip Morris added a new angle to their marketing by specifically attracting female customers in 1954. The cigarettes had new cork-tip filters housed in a fliptop box with a red roof design.(Wikipedia Philip Morris). Tobacco companies were quickly learning ways to attract and keep customers coming back for more. During World War II, soldiers were issued with free cigarettes, courtesy of the tobacco companies; with millions of nicotine-addicted G.I.s returning home after the war, the still largely unregulated tobacco industry aggressively promoted cigarettes throughout the 1950s.(time.com). As science slowly revealed the destruction tobacco smoking caused to ones health, many people began to second guess the legitimacy of tobacco smoking and the tobacco companies. U.S. Surgeon General, Luther Terry, began a mass case study of more than 7,000 smokers and linked smoking to lung cancer, emphysema and other diseases. This quickly gained the attention of government regulators who reportedly called for a mandatory health labeling on cigarettes and banned tobacco promotion on the radio and television. The Big Tobacco companies were losing customers, at least those who could successfully quit the addictive nicotine. Companies had to find a new tactic in keeping their business afloat and found a fresh, more nave foundation: children and teenagers. Candy cigarettes were being made and it seems they were subliminally successful in future customers. Tobacco companies in return simply changed strategy, advertising to younger markets with candy cigarettes and mascots like Joe Camel whom a 1991 study found was more recognizable among 5 and 6 year olds than Mickey Mouse (time.com). A tobacco executive of Camel quoted, Children love cartoons and these can be incorporated into the purchasing of cartons/packets of Camel cigarettes.(reactmt.com). In the

Highfill 3 early 1920s menthol cigarettes were introduced by Lloyd Hughes and added another dimension for attracting consumers. The menthol added a coolness and freshness and gradually became more popular, especially by the younger crowd. Big Tobacco companies have realized when directing their aim for securing long-term consumers, they need to start with teenagers. Nearly 80% of all smokers begin smoking before age 18almost none start as an adult.( tobacconeverquits.com). As much as a third of all youth who experiment with smoking do so because of effective tobacco industry marketing. (tobacconeverquits.com). Children are far more prone to manipulation and more easily influenced compared to adults; the tobacco companies used this knowledge to their advantage. The company Lorillard, a cigarette company known primarily for the brand Newport, says The base of our business is the high school student. Clearly most tobacco companies have followed suit in inviting the youth to play a key role in the power of Big Tobacco. R.J. Reynolds stated, If younger adults turn away from smoking, the industry will decline, just as a population which does not give birth will eventually dwindle. (reactmt.com) Understanding what exactly is in a cigarette can help the smoker better understand what theyre inhaling and the negative effects that stem for cigarette smoking. Tar, formaldehyde, cyanide, lead, acetone, ammonia, carbon monoxide, hydrazine, are among many chemicals found in a typical cigarette. Tar gives the cigarette flavor and is exactly what is used to pave roads. Tobacco companies have never given a clear reason why additives such as the ones above are put in cigarettes and even when people are given the knowledge of such chemicals, it doesnt seem to have an effect on the will power to quit. 70 percent of smokers say they want to quit, about half have attempted to quit in the past year, while only 5 percent have withstood the urge to

Highfill 4 smoke long-term (6 months or more). It can take the average smoker up to eight times of attempting to quit before they actually drop the habit all together.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1905530,00.html

http://www.thetruth.com/facts/pages/whats-in-a-butt/