I disagree here Raymond. Advertising works. MacDonalds targets children heavily. Why? Because it works. True, parents can say no. But how often do we give in, on many things, to things we know are bad for us. I doubt there are many of here, who, drinking a bit much when younger, did not think, "I will regret this in the morning."
Oddly, alcohol does not target children. Alcohol even go so far as to say must be over 18 and please drink responsibly, or something to that effect. Smoking commercials do target the very young. They know that they have to trap you before you reach about 18-20, or you most likely will never start. Look at third world countries. THEY GIVE IT AWAY TO THOSE CHILDREN. Think about why Kraft was all over the Balkans delivering "food". You will also a lot more Philip Morris manufactured cigarettes there being smoked by kids. That is their target market. Also look a Joe Camel, clear marketing aimed at kids. Look in all of the magazines aimed at young adults. Cigarette adds abound. No, you don't spend billions on marketing if there is no return. I have been in marketing for years and used it to take PentaSafe, Inc. from 5 people to 300. It works once you find your audience. RJR has and it is kids/young adults. I do not look at a young woman smoking a Virginia Slim (in fact, usually the people are doing something athletic and the cigarettes are just a carton on the page) and think, wow, I want to smoke. I think, "Damn, her lungs are going to look like sh** in a few years. I bet her hair stinks. What about that little yellow stain on her front teeth?" But a kid, focused on being a grown up like mom or dad, yearning to show independence, may buy into smoking. Peer pressures don't help either. Lack of aggressive education about the effects of smoking are not there. Like most of our world today (politics and environment especially), there is no long term thought to consequences of actions we, even as individuals, take today. I have seen kids say, "I will quit when I am ready". Well, from a previous thread here, we know how hard that can be. -Gary > -----Original Message----- > From: Raymond Camden [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 9:31 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: The Anti Terrorism Act.. > > > > It isn't just that people knew about the health risks, there > > was very targeted advertising towards teenagers and children > > - colonizing the future y'know. At times the advertising > > subtly discounted the health risks - e.g., showing smokers > > engaging in "health" behaviors. Also tobacco and nicotine are > > very addicting substances, with successful cessation rates > > Another issue - certainly it's bad to target minors, but the whole > "health" behaviour thing seems like BS to me. Beer commercials shows > guys with super models. Can I sue them since drinking beer doesn't make > me sexy to super models? Doesn't _all_ advertising try to make you feel > that by using a product, you will be more sexy/smarter/etc? Doesn't a > person with common intelligence know better? I refuse to believe the > advertisers should have to "dumb down" their ads. > > This reminds me of the case where Pepsi said if you got something like 7 > million Pepsi points you could buy a Harrier jet. Some guy brought suit > against them since, somehow, he got the points. I think it was _more_ > than obvious that the commercial was using the jet as a joke. > > -RC > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
