Teen Smoking

2 Pages 624 Words

The facts are right there on the pack: “Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema and may complicate pregnancy.” Many teen smokers say that they regret beginning to smoke when such particulars are conveyed. However, most youth attribute their tendencies of smoking to the glamorization of smoking in the media, depression, and lastly easy access to tobacco. Yet, with all the facts about smoking at their disposal, “…every day almost 5,000 U.S. teens try cigarettes for the first time and about 2,000 continue to become regular smokers…”

Therefore, the question remains, why exactly are teens lighting it up. Some speculate that many young people start smoking because of the glamorization of smoking on television, in the movies and in advertisements. When he was still “alive,” Joe Camel, the cigarette-smoking camel, was reported to be as familiar to 6-year-old children as Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse. Youth are more impressionable as far as reacting to what they see and hear on the television. Hence, Joe Camel was the perfect marketing tool to attract the attention of teens worldwide. To counteract this practice the FDA stepped in and made a ruling. The FDA rule places restrictions on Tobacco Company’s marketing practices that target large numbers of kids. For example, outdoor advertising will be banned within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds, and tobacco company sales or giveaways will be prohibited, as would tobacco company brand-name sponsorships of sporting or entertainment events. With this newly instituted plan, the FDA plans to substantially reduce the number of under age smoking amongst teens.
There are also a couple of other factors of teen smoking. One is that smoking is associated with depression. Anxiety and low self-esteem in some cases parallel many teens’ usage of tobacco products as a way to “self medicate.” Smoking has an effect on the development of depressio...