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Big Tobacco Means Big Money

The most vulnerable members of our society – children – are more susceptible to advertising. Studies show that kids are twice as sensitive to tobacco advertising than adults.

Big Tobacco knows that by targeting kids, they are creating customers for life. The tobacco industry, unlike any other, is built on lies and manipulation and their product kills when used as intended.

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  • Each year, the tobacco industry spends $9.5 billion in marketing in the U.S.
  • That’s over $23 million a day or about one million dollars every hour. 
  • In North Dakota alone, the tobacco industry spends $38.2 million per year.
  • Tobacco companies also promote their products on social media, as well as advertise in magazines and through direct mail. 

One-third of underage experimentation with smoking is attributable to tobacco company advertising.
Big tobacco claims they no longer target our youth, but the truth is they still utilize tactics such as enticing flavors, colorful packaging and names/logos similar to popular types of candy. 
Youth are attracted to sweet flavors and, with the help of targeted marketing, are more likely to try and continue using a tobacco product that is flavored. The FDA and U.S. Surgeon General have both reached the same conclusion: tobacco flavors help mask the harshness of tobacco and bring our kids into a lifetime of addiction.
 
In 2009, the FDA banned the use of flavors in traditional cigarettes on the basis that flavors are especially appealing to youth. The correlation between flavors and youth have been proven once again, as their cigarette usage has declined over the past few years, but flavored e-cigarette usage has sky rocketed. In this study, more than two-thirds of youth report using tobacco products because, “they come in flavors I like. “
 
Tobacco companies are after our kids and it’s working. Every year, 300 North Dakota kids become daily, addicted smokers. Smoking kills people. We know this. But since dead people can't smoke, tobacco companies have to find a replacement for every person they kill. Their favorite replacements are youth.

Find out more about what you can do.