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Dialogues@RU is published
annually
by the
Writing Program at
Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey
Volume 4
Fall 2005
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Advertising and the Tobacco Industry - Page 2
By Monica Yung
If a product is ubiquitous but does not have a positive connotation, it will not necessarily be successful; therefore, "internal control" is a way of "associating goods with social meanings that will bestow a positive perceptual differentiation on the product" (Scott 87). Consequently, since cigarettes are known to be harmful, causing emphysema and lung cancer, as well as yellow teeth and bad breath, billions of dollars are expended to promote the dangerous habit of smoking.
Nevertheless, the effectiveness of advertising is still debated. J. J. Boddewyn, in his article, "There is No Convincing Evidence for a Relationship Between Advertising and Consumption," and Hugh High, in Does Advertising Increase Smoking? challenge the notion that advertising increases consumption, and argue that it solely promotes brand allegiance. While a great majority of critics affirm that advertising promotes smoking, others insist that external and internal control do not significantly influence consumption. Scott himself admits that "a convincing sample of studies has found little indication that attitudes and decision making are affected by commercial [messages]" (87). Professor of Marketing and International Business, J.J. Boddewyn claims that
advertising does not affect the aggregate demand for cigarettes but only influences market shares among brands within a total market whose size and growth are functions of other variables such as demographics, income, price, current attitudes toward smoking, and anti-smoking regulations. (1256)
Consequently, many have concluded that consumers are immune to advertising ploys and that advertising strategies do not attract new users, but merely promote loyalty among to established consumers to familiar brands. Elizabeth Whelan quotes Anne Browder of the Tobacco Institute, "Lever Brothers (a soap manufacturer) doesn't advertise its products to convince you to take a bath. Just as the cigarette advertisements are aimed at gaining brand loyalty among smokers, not getting nonsmokers to try a cigarette" (181). Although this statement may raise a few incredulous eyebrows (and Browder's employment in the Tobacco Institute may taint her claims), Boddewyn observes that "even the Surgeon General has acknowledged that there is no scientifically rigorous study available to the public that provides a definitive answer to the question of whether advertising and promotion increase the level of tobacco consumption . . . the extent of influence of advertising and promotion on the level of consumption is unknown and possibly unknowable" (1261).
Nevertheless, many anti-smoking activists believe that advertising is the primary factor that induces people, especially young people, to start smoking, and therefore they support a complete ban on cigarette advertising in the hope that it will eradicate the habit which kills over 3.5 million people each year. However, various studies confirm the fact that "in a number of countries where advertising is not prohibited, consumption among both adults and young people has been declining, while it has been increasing in some countries where advertising is prohibited" (High 39). Moreover, Boddewyn claims that "there is no ready way of telling if the relationship between aggregate advertising and aggregate consumption involves either consumption causing advertising, or advertising causing consumption . . . In reality, there is also a demand for advertising because people lack sufficient knowledge" (1256). It can be argued that advertising is an essential aspect of business in providing consumers with "sufficient knowledge" and, in fact, "aims to inform people about their general attributes and benefits. As consumer awareness of the product category expands, advertising faces a mature market" (High 20). Therefore, it is evident that many not only believe that there is no correlation between cigarette advertising and consumption but that advertising is an essential and informative aspect of the economy, and despite the general impression that advertising does promote consumption, the other side of the debate should not be overlooked.