BP Editors
Philip Morris Tobacco has been lauded as extremely unethical since so much of their advertising seems geared toward children, and what’s more evil than trying to get kids hooked on what is basically a life-threatening drug?
While tobacco advertising regulations are now stronger than ever, Philip Morris (and other tobacco companies) are still criticized for the prominence of their products and ads in delis, convenience stores, and magazines. There’s also the fact that they continue to pay for product placement in movies featuring “cool” characters who smoke and may influence the teens watching them to do the same.
Even their efforts to make themselves look better have been criticized; PBS wonders why anti-smoking ads created by Philip Morris point the blame at other smoking teenagers instead of tobacco manufacturers themselves. After all, the only reason that kid-friendly cigarette mascots like Joe Camel don’t exist today is because we made them illegal.
Even a recently released Surgeon General’s Report in 2012 openly admits the scientific evidence that “consistently and coherently points to the intentional marketing of tobacco products to youth as being a cause of young people’s tobacco use.”
