Tobacco Ad Deception

With a couple of hours to kill before my drive to Yankee Stadium for a night baseball game, I was sitting in the family room with my son, sporting his Yankees ball cap and already holding his baseball glove. On the coffee table, I reached for the new edition of Sports Illustrated magazine as the cover, showing a University of Texas football player, caught my eye. As I leaned back and put my socked feet up on the table, the pages of the magazine were calling my name.

One page, an advertisement, caught my eye. I was genuinely surprised to see a cigarette ad in a sports magazine. As a former smoker, I can relate to the ad.

Occupying a full page in Sports Illustrated Magazine, a male adult in an outdoor park setting laughs as he physically lifts up a girlfriend in a simulated tackle after she presumably catches a well-thrown football. College-aged and wearing a multicolored long-sleeve athletic shirt and a ball cap placed on backwards, the man is grinning ear to ear and appears to be thoroughly enjoying the moment. The girlfriend is equally enjoying the outdoor games as she is hoisted upwards in a bear hug by her athletic boyfriend in a gentle tackle play. The background is full of green trees and blue sky as if the game of football were being played in a beautiful neighborhood park on a gorgeous Spring day. The only advertising text on the page, in two-inch tall orange letters reads "Newport Pleasure".

The advertiser sends a message that the reader can enjoy the same happiness, health, and freedom with their product and that it is acceptable to smoke and enjoy pleasure at the same time. One intended effect on its audience, might be to leave the reader with the impression that smoking does not necessarily equate to risk, disease, doom and gloom, or no acceptance, but rather the thought that if the couple in the photo are smokers, and can still have pleasure playing football and laughing, perhaps I can too. The advertiser would hope the reader might consider their product the next time they see it in the store.

Staring at the ad, I wonder, how long these tobacco companies can continue to convince non-smokers to start smoking or current smokers that it's acceptable to continue smoking. Again, as a former smoker, I can say that most smokers regularly think about quitting. The organizations and non-profits that spend money and effort to educate people about the dangers of smoking are up against a giant of an adversary. Knowing the dangers of tobacco use, the biggest influence against smoking a teen can have is his or her parents.