Jacoby, J. (1998, April 7). "Teen smoking campaign flops." The Boston Globe, p. A19.

OVERVIEW

Smokers start to smoke at a young age. The U.S. Surgeon General’s 1994 report cited that the average age at which smokers first try cigarettes is 14½. The average age at which they become daily smokers is 17½.

David Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Adminstration says: " ‘Nicotine addiction is a pediatric disease that often begins at 12, 13, and 14 only to manifest itself at 16 and 17, when these children find they cannot quit.’ "

Because of this reality, every U.S. state has banned the sale of cigarettes to minors. Tobacco ads are forbidden on television and radio and eliminated from shows aimed primarily at young people. R.J. Reynolds was forced to drop Joe Camel as an advertising icon appealing to children and youth.

Because habits and addictions begin early, anti-tobacco strategists have particularly targeted teens. The National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids has raised more than $32 million since 1996. The proposed tobacco settlement would require cigarette companies to contribute $500 million to anti-smoking education programs. Further restrictions would deny billboard advertising and limit product placement. Antismoking ads have been especially directed at kids.

According to the writer of this article, "One ad created by SmokeFree Educational Services features a fifth-grader’s drawing of a skeleton in a cowboy hat riding his horse through a graveyard. The slogan: ‘Come to Where the Cancer Is.’ "

Jacoby continues, "In short, American kids have been exposed in recent years to the most intense antismoking campaign in history. The result? An explosion of teenage smoking." Consider these statistics (according to a recent release from the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta):

• Smoking rates among high school students show a one-third increase, from 27.5% to 36.4% between 1991 and 1997.
• 40% of white girls report having smoked a cigarette at least once in the past month.
• 20% of white girls say they smoke frequently.
• More than half of white boys are users of cigarettes, cigars, or chewing tobacco.
• Smoking has increased among African-American kids 80% in seven years.

The author of this article concludes:

Short of adopting dictatorial controls, there are limits to what any government can do to stop teenagers from experimenting.

We have made it illegal for minors to acquire tobacco; we have made sure they know that smoking is unhealthy; we have jacked up the price of cigarettes with state and federal taxes. That makes sense. Anything more (like bans on tobacco-logo shirts, etc.) is hysteria. And as the new statistics suggest, nothing makes tobacco more alluring to adolescents than hysterical grown-ups admonishing them not to smoke.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. What was most striking to you in this article?
2. Do you smoke, or have you discussed smoking with a teenage smoker? Why do most pre-teens and teenagers smoke?
3. Have you talked about smoking with an older adult who wants to quit? How and why do people choose to do something proven to be damaging to them?
4. Why is smoking as or even more addictive than heroin and other drugs?
5. How might a society best invest millions of dollars to protect itself and its young people from a damaging habit?
6. How would you approach teenagers about the seriousness of nicotine addiction?

IMPLICATIONS

• Alcohol contributes significantly to teenage deaths. Smoking is mostly dangerous in the long run.
• The sense of invincibility among teenagers makes warnings about long-term dangers weak.
• The author of the above news article makes a good point regarding the counter-productivity of negative warnings for teenagers.
• It is easy for adults and any society to tell young people what not to do. It is more difficult, yet far more productive to get close enough to them to find out what pressures they are feeling, how they want to be cool and accepted by peers and others, and how they can best take care of themselves and be all they want to be.