Smoking in Today's Culture

I'm rereading John Grisham's The Runaway Jury and enjoying it immensely.

The main focus is the jury that has been selected for a Big Tobacco trial and what the two sides of the case are trying to do to see the outcome they'd like. Personally, I have no trouble believing the bad things I hear about the tobacco industry. Including:

'The 1998 legal settlement between the states and the tobacco companies prohibited the tobacco companies from taking "any action, directly or indirectly, to target youth... in the advertising, promotion or marketing of tobacco products." However, since the settlement, the tobacco companies have increased their cigarette marketing expenditures by 125 percent to a record $15.1 billion a year, or $41.5 million a day, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Much of this marketing is still targeted at kids.

One of the tobacco industry's most outrageous new tactics is the introduction of candy-flavored cigarettes and smokeless tobacco (View advertising examples):

• R.J. Reynolds - the same company that once marketed cigarettes to kids with a cartoon character, Joe Camel - has launched a series of flavored cigarettes, including a pineapple and coconut-flavored cigarette called "Kauai Kolada" and a citrus-flavored cigarette called "Twista Lime." In November 2004, they introduced Camel "Winter Blends" in flavors including "Winter Warm Toffee" and "Winter MochaMint" (see Campaign statement).
• Brown & Williamson has introduced flavored versions of its Kool cigarettes with names like "Caribbean Chill," "Midnight Berry," "Mocha Taboo" and "Mintrigue."
• The U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company is marketing spit tobacco with flavors including berry blend, mint, wintergreen, apple blend, vanilla and cherry.

Brown & Williamson has also promoted its Kool cigarettes with hip-hop music themes and images that have particular appeal to African-American youth.

There are several ongoing efforts to stop the tobacco companies from continuing to target our children. Several state attorneys general have sued tobacco companies for violating the state settlement's prohibition on targeting kids. In addition, the federal government is pursuing a lawsuit against the tobacco companies that, among other things, seeks to stop tobacco marketing to kids. Congress also needs to pass legislation granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority over tobacco products, including the authority to ban flavored cigarettes and crack down on other forms of tobacco marketing and sales to kids.'

How can that be good?

So I am reading about the heinous things tobacco companies do... again. They argue that smoking should be all about choice. I hate to say but you created and made all the cigarettes and then in the 1930s did a huge study determining smoking to be dangerous and cancer-causing and then did everything you could hide it! I remember smoking ads - vaguely on the telly but all too well in magazines. Don't tell me there wasn't all kinds of advertising and aimed at kids. I remember when Marlboro trucks for promotional things parked outside of stores with blaring music and radio hosts. Please tell me this isn't disgusting.