Smoke screen: sweet-sounding cigarettes are 'candy-flavored cancer'. (Drugs & Alcohol)
(teenagers are being lured by candy flavored cigarettes) Stephen Fraser.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2004 Weekly Reader Corp.
There is a new product on the market! It's called Smooth Fusions. Listen to the names of the sweet-sounding flavors: Mintrigue, Mocha Taboo, Caribbean Chill, Midnight Berry.
What might the product be? A new kind of smoothie? A new chewing gum? Whatever it is, it certainly sounds healthful.
Smooth Fusions are actually fruit-flavored cigarettes manufactured by Kool. Don't be fooled by the fruity names, though. There is no such thing as a cigarette that's good for you.
Camel introduced the first fruit-flavored cigarettes five years ago, with flavors such as Twist, Bayou Blast, and Cinnzabar. Camel now markets 20 different flavors.
Why are tobacco companies selling cigarettes that taste like fruit? "Tobacco companies are looking for "'replacement customers,'" said Matt Berry of the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids in Washington, D.C. Older smokers are getting sick and dying, says Berry, and tobacco companies need new customers. In 2001, tobacco companies spent 11.2 billion dollars marketing cigarettes, or $39 per person in the United States.
Ninety percent of smokers take their first puff before they are 19 years old. Tobacco companies know that, says Berry, and want to snare customers when they are still impressionable. In addition to selling fruit-flavored cigarettes, the companies are also marketing bubble-gum-flavored cigarette-rolling paper, berry-flavored smokeless tobacco, and chocolate-flavored cigars.
Flavored cigarettes are nothing new. In the 1920s, tobacco companies added menthol to cigarettes to mask the acidic taste. Menthol is a substance derived from peppermint oil. It can be used as a muscle relaxant. Menthol is also added to some medicines, such as cough drops. But cigarettes are no kind of medicine.
No matter how tobacco is flavored, consider the facts: Smoking can cause yellowed teeth, bad skin, and life-threatening diseases--stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and emphysema. Packages of fruit-flavored cigarettes carry the same government health warning that all cigarette packages do.
There is nothing wrong with fruit and fruit flavors. Just don't be fooled by creative marketing. The new tobacco products are "candy-flavored cancer," said Berry.
REVIEW/DISCUSS
* Why are tobacco companies selling flavored cigarettes? (to get younger people interested in smoking)
* Are fruit-flavored cigarettes more healthful? (No. All cigarettes can cause yellowed teeth and bad skin, in addition to such life-threatening diseases as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and emphysema.)
* How much do tobacco companies spend marketing cigarettes? (In 2001, they spent $11.2 billion.)
* What is menthol? (a substance derived from peppermint oil that is sometimes used to flavor cigarettes)
ACTIVITIES
1. Ask students to research cigarette marketing techniques. Give a writing assignment titled "What Cigarette Ads Don't Tell You." Have students share their writing in small groups or with the whole class to reinforce their learning.
2. Challenge students to prepare an antismoking skit for younger kids. Have them write it, make the props, select music (if applicable), and then perform the skit for elementary students near your school.