Handsel Art
19 November 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
contact J.R. Few
or 870-427-1365
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Tobacco industry marketing tactics, like product placement, make nicotine addiction seem normal
and harmless and are often subtle and deceptive.
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Two Arkansas photographers have been recognized in a national tobacco prevention photography contest hosted by Countertobacco.org. Ashley Richter, a tobacco free advocate attending North Arkansas College, was a winner in the Youth Appeal category with a photo of an electronic cigarette advertisement adjacent to candies at a convenience store counter. An Honorable Mention in the same category was awarded to J.R. Few of rural Marion County for a photo showing product placement of flavored cigars next to bubble gum and hard candies. Photos like these, showing nicotine products and ads in proximities to candies or foodstuffs, display the unfortunate and false subliminal message that they are harmless and normal.
Countertobacco.org is the first comprehensive resource for groups working to challenge tobacco at point of sale. The tobacco industry has a history of sophisticated and successful marketing that, in addition to a federal conviction for fraud in 2006, addicts and kills over 400,000 Americans annually. Currently, the major focus of tobacco industry marketing is the retail environment where tobacco is sold. Not coincidentally, research shows that convenience stores selling tobacco are where youth most frequent.
Few, a volunteer with the Arkansas Cancer Coalition and the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arkansas notes, “Ms. Richter’s photo is topical and important because the industry is taking advantage of a loophole in federal and state regulations for tobacco products to market the electronic cigarette. These devices are not a tool to help people overcome their nicotine addiction. They are a marketing strategy to prevent just that.” Public health research has shown that rather than helping people quit smoking, electronic cigarettes prompt a dual use of nicotine delivery with no real net health benefit.
The American Cancer Society holds the annual Great American SmokeOut on the third Thursday of November. The ‘SmokeOut’ is designated as a day nicotine addicts can take a day off and perhaps extend a tobacco free life. If we pay attention to groups like Countertobacco.org it may also be an opportunity to understand how the tobacco industry continues to market a deadly addictive drug.
The Arkansas Department of Health offers free counseling for nicotine addiction at 1-800-QUIT NOW.
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