| Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | | CWK Producer |
“They’re marketing towards us, and there’s not much we can do about it but just not buy it.”
– Forrest, 18
The Food and Drug Administration has now banned flavored cigarettes in American in an attempt to lower the teen smoking rate. Clove and mint and chocolate flavored cigarettes will no longer be sold in the U.S. But already tobacco companies are finding loop-holes in the new FDA rules.
The packaging was sleek with the promise of a sweet smell and taste.
“I saw two of them,” says Adina, 15. “One of them was, like, Kahlua flavored, and one was, like, lime.
Another teen, who doesn’t want us to use his name, says he tried them once. “I guess ‘cause it had a flavor to it.”
Flavored cigarettes are now banned under new FDA legislation, but tobacco companies have found a way to keep their hands in the primarily under-30 market: flavored cigars.
Still, experts say, parents have the power to keep their kids from picking up the habit. “Sitting down and talking about how advertising works, how companies — regardless of what they’re advertising — what hooks they use in trying to manipulate you into buying products,” says Linda Lee, anti-smoking advocate.
Forrest, 18, says teens can take matters a step further. “They’re marketing towards us, and there’s not much we can do about it but just not buy it.”
Patrick Reynolds was the first tobacco industry executive to turn his back on the cigarette makers. His grandfather founded tobacco company R.J. Reynolds, but the family's cigarette brands, Camel and Winston, killed his father and eldest brother. He has devoted his life to the goal of a smoke-free society and motivates young people to stay tobacco free. Patrick Reynolds first spoke against tobacco to Congress in 1986. Over the years he has reached over a million youngsters through his talks to school groups.
Every day in the United States, 3,000 teens become newly addicted to smoking. Smoking ads are designed to manipulate minds. Teens represent any business’ future. Tobacco companies are extremely sensitive to this fact and look to find new users in young demographics.