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Last Updated: Jan 31st, 2007 - 10:58:43 |
Flavored cigarettes are death wrapped in a sweet name
Oct 17, 2006, 16:10
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Which sounds more appealing Winter MochaMint or Cancer Stick? They are the same thing, but the marketers at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. thought more people would be interested in their flavored cigarettes if they had cute names such as MochaMint or Twista Lime. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the cancer sticks were dressed up with catchy names in order to appeal to young people. She announced a settlement with Reynolds last week in which the tobacco company agreed to stop using candy, fruit and alcohol names to market cigarettes in Illinois and 38 other states. The tobacco company also agreed not to distribute "scratch-and-sniff" ads to promote their flavored cigs or other scented promotional items to get kids interested in cigarettes. Reynolds still may produce flavored cigarettes, but the company will have to be more straightforward in its attempts to get kids addicted before they are old enough to realize they are not immortal. Research indicates that 60 percent of adults who are addicted began smoking before the age of 16, Madigan told the Editorial Board last week. Ninety percent of addicts began smoking before they were 20. Madigan and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer have led the way in holding the tobacco company to an agreement it reached with the states in 1998. A written statement from Lynn J. Beasley, president and chief operating officer of R.J. Reynolds, shows clearly why the attorneys general need to keep the tobacco barons under constant vigilance. Beasley said the company recognized that the names of the flavored cigarettes have "resulted in unintended perceptions and concerns."
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