Marketing of Tobacco Products
Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and values with others.(Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, Wong page 5) One of the products that are exchanged through marketing is cigarettes. Tobacco is considered an inherently unethical product because is addictive, dangerous and causes environmental damage. Tobacco is also considered a pleasing product because its immediate satisfaction is high but sometimes has harmful effects in the long run. One of the long run effects of smoking is that four million people are killed every year and is estimated that the figure will rise to ten million by 2030
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(Yach, Brinchmann, Bellet page 4, 7 and Sloman page 85).This injustice, urged the department of justice to file a civil lawsuit in 1999, against the largest tobacco companies, to recover the cost that federal government has to spend on smoking-related illness each year. However our concern here is not only about the cigarette as a product but with the ethics of cigarettes as well, that affect the social process of marketing. This is because marketing process makes things worse and is also considered as unethical, and as a result has a significant negative impact on the societal welfare. Multinational tobacco companies apply sophisticated strategies ( such as putting flavor in the cigarettes and placing cigarettes in the shops near the sweets to make them more appealing) and invest huge amounts of money for marketing, in order to establish brand familiarity and future loyalty among young peoplem, to secure profits in the long run. 'The tobacco epidemic is a man-made international health crisis, created and sustained by multinational tobacco corporations.' (Yach, Brinchmann, Bellet page 2). Fortunately, the tobacco industry's behavior is likely to change due to the increasing legal and societal pressures. Much legislation has been imposed to tobacco firms based on codes of behavior, different government strategies and litigations, especially after 1980 where anti-smoking groups reactions, led to higher restrictions throughout
Since the first major lawsuit settled against tobacco companies in 1998, there has been much controversy over whether or not these lawsuits are justified. On the pro side of the argument there is much evidence to support that the tobacco industries have long known about the dangers of cigarette smoking. Furthermore that this knowledge warrants the need for compensation. In addition the industry has concealed this knowledge from the public. On the con side of the argument evidence shows that these lawsuits have been based on false claims primarily in regard to health care costs for smokers. Furthermore, the regulations set by the settlement of the 1998 multistate lawsuit have established a legal president which allows individuals
The Tobacco manufacturing and sales industry is highly regulated due to high taxes and health problems smoking would cause. These regulations and laws limited the marketing capabilities of Tobacco manufacturing companies as a whole. But almost all of them handled these delicate situations in one way or another. Reynolds American Inc. states on the company’s website that they market responsibly through three main guidelines: Standards and Safeguards, absolutely certifiable and responsible advertising and promotion. The company explains these points by stating that, they do not market to consumers without confirming their ages to be above 21, training their employees on how to approach only existing tobacco consumers and not to encourage consumers who do not consume tobacco products to engage in its consumption. Also, the company mentions straightforward and transparent approach to marketing their products, for example “Cigarette smoking is harmful to your health. No additives in our tobacco do NOT mean a safer
Plastered all over magazines, buildings, and billboards used to be positive advertising of tobacco, encouraging people nationwide that tobacco use is fun, trendy, and completely innocuous. “More Doctors Smoke CAMELS than any other cigarette”, “More delicate in flavor, too...for those with keen, young tastes”, and “My throat is safe with Craven ‘A’... you can trust their smoothness and quality” were both notable examples of advertising that hooked the now addicted users (Lindstrom). Nowadays, although advertising has become more educational on the negative health effects of tobacco use, it is still normal to see people as young as 18 using the toxic products. However, how can it necessarily be considered ‘wrong’ if the legal age for tobacco
Tobacco companies have had massive public relations and campaigns to the whole wide world to influence young adults to start to smoke. By advertising, having famous people smoke, in movies, and make it look cool. Tobacco companies continue to make there presence known by targeting kids. Since the legal age of buying and using tobacco products is at 18, the age where young adults feel invincible and free, they hope they will get hook and continue to smoke all the way through there adult life’s. Since most companies know that tobacco with nicotine can have an addictive habit, they hope to attract the young adults. Tobacco companies had a monopoly with regulations up until the year 2009.
Tobacco companies make a lot of profit on cigarettes, and they want shoppers to keep buying their product. They only concern about how much money they are going to make; they do not care about how it will affect other people’s health. An average pack of cigarette is about five dollars, but imagine smoking about two packs day that would be three thousand three hundred and sixty dollars a year. According to Werner, "supporters of FDA bill cited figures from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention that smokers coat the country $96 billion a year in direct health care costs, and an additional $97 billion a year in lost productivity". Smokers are not only spending their own money on cigarettes, but they are also spending tax payer’s money on
The tobacco industry uses sponsorship and media to advertise its products, the best selling product being cigarettes. The industry’s targeted demographic has changed over the years from general interest in men, to an abrupt shift toward women, targeting them with slim cigarettes and “girly” brands. It is common knowledge that the tobacco campaign has targeted
The increase in rate of smoking means that more people would die from preventable causes.
Furthermore, tobacco industry has an ethical obligation to the consumers. Consumer satisfaction is the essence of every business’s strives to achieve its set objectives. Besides profitability, every enterprise is obliged to conform delivering quality products and services in tandem to the international code of conducts. In most cases, the production, processing and packaging is at the discretion of the producer. There exists information asymmetry between the producer and the consumer thus exposing the latter to the unilateral decision making by producers in the market. As a result, the responsibility of ensuring quality products is indirectly conferred to the producers for them to prioritize the effect of their products on the society’s well-being.
The tobacco industry has been working to influence the personal behavior of individuals as well as in national structures which extend across disparate government sectors to use tobacco products despite the known risks. Since interaction is prohibited between the federal government and the tobacco industry by the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and the Civil Service Commission – Department of Health Joint
In conclusion, the tobacco industry is very harmful to society’s health. Cigarettes are the only legal consumer products in the world that cause half of their long-term users to die prematurely. Putting a ban on advertisement was just a start to not advertise so the tobacco industry would not solicit children, but the tobacco industry has come up with different strategies to solicit adolescents even more. If a law was passed to ban tobacco completely, citizens of the United States would not have to worry about second hand smoke, reduces the chance of cancer, and health
The tobacco industry in America is one that every person is affected by. In the past year over 3,000 people died from second-hand smoke related deaths (Above the Influence.com). Even non-smokers are heavily affected by this moneymaking industry. The real question though, is how is a product that kills justified in the market? This product is not only addictive, but also highly threatening to the lives of its users. The majority of users do not realize it, but in reality they are paying for their own funeral. Tobacco and cigarette companies continue to feed lies to the public through their marketing strategies and product makeup. Hidden documents containing information on the toxicity and pharmacological properties of nicotine
The tobacco industry in the United States has expanded immensely over the past century, and is one of the leading “cash crops” in the country. Cigarettes held the largest margin in the market with an average of over 65% in overall sales. The United States tobacco market held a total revenue of $161.3 billion in 2014, this is one of the largest industries in the world for a single country. There are four major companies that run the mass production of tobacco products in the United States, the Altria Group, Swisher International, Imperial Tobacco Group and Reynolds American. Many Americans have resorted to the use of “e-cigs” or electronic cigarettes and “illicit” tobacco sales, this accounts for a small, yet growing market.
This is one of the biggest problems today that are killing people in the United States and around the world. Big tobacco companies are making billions of dollars off of people dying and getting people hooked on cigarettes or any tobacco product. Many states are now challenging these companies by raising the tobacco age so young adults and teens will not become hooked or be dependent on tobacco. For tobacco companies young adults and teens are their main target audience that they depend on them so that cash keeps pouring in. Tobacco companies kill their best customers. Specifically, I am addressing the question: "In the U.S., to what extent do age-related restrictions on the marketing and sale of tobacco products affect the major tobacco industries and their customers?”
There are several ethical philosophies in play here regarding the tobacco company and these ethical issues can be explored by analyzing the myriad of interplay of relationships
This case deals with the ethical dilemma that Tobacco manufactures face when selling tobacco products in third world countries. First, there is the ethical dilemma of business versus health. The opening and development of the tobacco business in Third World countries like China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Africa, is considered against the health consequences of tobacco use which according to an Oxford University epidemiologist, has estimated to cost 3 million lives annually rising to 10 million by 2050 without effective tobacco control program A second ethical dilemma is employment versus impoverishment, where the opportunities for work in the tobacco industry are considered against a background of malnutrition. This is a problem that