Society and Smoking
If you decide to quit smoking you will find that it is a favorable decision, and this is because society in general is discovering the risks and high costs connected to the use of tobacco. This is not to say that smoking is on a decline all around the world, but in many places the application of high taxes and smoking bans has caused numbers to drop dramatically. Consider that someone in the United States will pay from seven to eleven dollars for a single pack of cigarettes because of the high taxes on tobacco.
In New York City the implementation of a smoking ban caused smoking related deaths to drop by roughly eleven percent over a four year period. Unfortunately, tobacco use will kill an estimated one billion people within the twenty-first century should usage continue at the current rate. The worst thing about the current rate of cigarette consumption is the fact that it is young people who are becoming the most prevalent of all smokers with an estimated one hundred thousand teens around the world beginning to smoke every year.
Sadly, it is marketing and advertising that lures these people into lighting their first cigarettes. Although society as a whole recognizes and acknowledges the problems with smoking, and many advertising restrictions have reduced smoking by measurable amounts, there is still roughly fifty dollars per person (at a planetary population level) directed towards tobacco advertising. These ads or marketing plans will often show smoking as sexy, glamorous, chic and “cool”. For instance, around eighty percent of PG-13 movies will have smoking shown in them, and of these films around sixty percent have the main or favorable characters shown smoking themselves. This translates to young audiences seeing smoking in a positive light.
With smoking bans and anti-tobacco measures in place, however, some countries have been able to create excellent results. For example, in 1989 the Canadian government imposed a complete ban on advertising and sponsorships from tobacco companies. This created a long-term reduction of smoking by roughly four percent. In 1991 the French government also put a complete advertising ban in place and also outlawed smoking within public buildings. This created a four year cycle during which time smoking was reduced by seven percent throughout the population.
Clearly people respond to the laws and to taxes, but it is also the health issues so commonly associated with smoking that lead to many deciding to end their habit. Luckily there are many smoking cessation aids available through health care providers, with some even being made free of charge.
