TOBACCO INDUSTRY CLAIM: "Cigarette smoking is an adult choice. The decision to smoke should be an adult one. Children should not smoke."

REALITY: Smoking is a deadly addiction, responsible for four million deaths each year. By using words like "choice," the industry diverts attention from the well-established devastating health impacts of tobacco. Because nicotine is as addictive as heroin or cocaine, using tobacco is not a choice once you're hooked. And the nicotine industry hooks 60% of its customers before they're even 14 years old.

TOBACCO INDUSTRY CLAIM: "We abide by local laws and regulations in every country in which we do business. It is as inappropriate to apply US marketing restrictions overseas as it would be for those countries to impose their laws here."

REALITY: This attempt to disguise outrageous double standards as a respect for national self-determination is as offensive as it is transparent. Whenever they can get away with it, the tobacco transnationals show nothing but contempt for the laws and regulations of any country.
To cite just a few examples, they are currently refusing to obey a tobacco ad ban in Russia, recently succeeded in getting the Czech Republic to rescind its ad ban, and got the US government to force Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan to overturn ad bans during the 1980's under threat of trade retaliation.
The tobacco industry's Cigarette Advertising and Promotion Code is further evidence of its hypocrisy. This Code, which is supposedly intended to protect children, applies only in the US. The industry would have us believe that applying the code universally would be imposing foreign values on other societies. However, when dealing with a deadly substance, it seems more respectful and humane to presume that children are valued across all cultures than not.

TOBACCO INDUSTRY CLAIM: "We sponsor bold initiatives designed to discourage young people from smoking."

REALITY: At best, tobacco industry initiatives are ineffective in preventing young people from taking up smoking. At worst, they are an insidious extension of the industry's strategy of luring young people to start smoking by presenting the cigarette as a rite of passage into the adult world.

Industry program: "It's the Law: no sales to minors."

Marketed as an effort to help retailers observe and enforce state laws prohibiting tobacco sales to youth, this program consists of snazzy point-of-sale stickers, buttons, and signs proclaiming the legal age for the sale of cigarettes.

Effect:
In countries where this has been implemented, "It's the Law" has had no real effect on youth access to tobacco products. And this Tobacco Institute campaign shifts the burden of compliance from the industry-- which continues to push its product on youth-- to individual retailers.

Industry program: "I'm STRONG...I'm Responsible"

Implemented by the University for Asia and the Pacific, this Philip Morris "youth smoking prevention" program for high school students focuses on peer pressure and making responsible decisions.

Effect:
With this Philippine version of its brilliant "Helping Youth Say No" campaign, the industry has found a way to have its cake and eat it, too: "proving" its commitment to discourage youth smoking, while actually reinforcing its marketing to young people. "I'm STRONG" does not mention the known health consequences of smoking, which should be an essential factor in any informed decision to smoke. Instead, by framing smoking as a marker of maturity, the program actually strengthens the cigarette's power as a symbol of adulthood and independence.

TOBACCO INDUSTRY CLAIM: "We advertise and promote our products only to adult smokers. There is no significant connection between advertising and the decision to start smoking. Studies have shown that peer pressure and parental influence are the chief factors in a youngster's decision to smoke."

REALITY: Children see--and act on--tobacco advertising and promotion. Although other factors also come into play, advertising and promotion definitely succeed in creating demand for tobacco products. It would be economically unsound for the industry to spend billions of dollars each year marketing its products if that investment did not increase sales! Advertising and promotion increase sales both by increasing the consumption of current smokers, and by attracting new consumers.

TOBACCO INDUSTRY CLAIM: "We have for many years adhered to a voluntary Code restricting our marketing practices."

REALITY: The tobacco industry's voluntary Advertising and Promotion Code is a sham that does more harm than good by giving the companies a potent PR tool while compelling no changes in behavior. The code is completely without independent enforcement--the companies simply assert their compliance, and no one outside the industry has any authority to stop even the grossest violations. Some provisions of the code are systematically ignored, while others are rhetorical statements made meaningless by their lack of content.