Jimmy Chang’s blog about “For Chinese Students, Smoking Isn’t All Bad”
I was shocked to hear that schools are sponsored by local units of China’s state-owned cigarette monopoly, considering all the harmful effects that tobacco has proven to have. The national government should ban advertisings on schools that say “Genius comes from hard work – tobacco helps you become talented”.
It may be good for their business to engage young audiences into that habit, but it is something unethical about the company and especially from the government’s side since it’s supposed to act in its citizen’s behalf. Given this argument, I with Jimmy’s belief that people will get disgusted from this campaign, since we are talking about uneducated communities that have no idea tobacco is slowly killing them.
For harmful substances it should be obligatory in China to include in the products the dangers of smoking, like other countries have done. People have to be educated on the products they are buying, so they have an educated choice when having to make a decision.
What other proof is necessary to show the ministry of the harmful substances tobacco has than having about 1 million Chinese deaths from tobacco-related illnesses every year. It could represent a good opportunity for children related product companies to sponsor schools around the country to educate communities in poverty about beneficial tools that could help them be successful instead of inducing them into an addiction like tobacco companies have.
But in the end what can you do if the only one that can help you solve this problem is the one allowing it to happen?