According to the UN, the use of tobacco leads to an average of 6 million deaths worldwide every year. As soon as I came across this astonishing statistic I began to wonder if the continuous use of tobacco was solely a response to an addiction or if there were any other factors that contributed to it.
It is interesting to think that a simple ‘Coke’ or ‘Snickers’ advertisement can make you crave the product so badly, which made me draw the conclusion that a tobacco-related commercial can drive an addict crazy. But if cigarettes are responsible for millions of deaths a year, where do tobacco companies stand on moral and ethical values when advertising their product to one of their main target audience, young people. The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan has publicly stated that the tobacco industry is generally aggressive when trying to advertise and lead young adults and teenagers to consume cigarettes.
The UN has publicly claimed that regulations on tobacco advertisement are one of the most efficient measures of reducing the use of the substance. Tobacco commercials are one of the main reasons why young adults get dragged into the consumption of cigarettes.
From a logical point of view, I can rationalize the arguments made by the tobacco industry that they should be free to advertise and market their product just like other industries such as the alcohol industry. However, when your product becomes responsible for the deaths of 6 million people a year, ethical and moral values should be addressed before any profit seeking action.
http://veja.abril.com.br/230800/p_104.html
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45383&Cr=Tobacco&Cr1=#.UkNfzqzNlFJ