Archive: Mar 16, 2016, 12:00 AM

Stay informed on consequences of tobacco

The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions estimates that 16.8 percent of Americans 18 and older currently smoke cigarettes. This equates to roughly 40 million Americans — the entire population of California. Cigarette smoking has long been known to cause the onset of many preventable diseases and continues to take more than 480,000 American lives each year. With the dangers of smoking widely known, what leads individuals to pick up the habit of smoking and what can we do to not become victims of smoking? Any marketing major will tell you that knowing your target audience for selling a product plays an important role in successfully selling that product. Big tobacco companies know this and employ their advertising tactics on youth in hopes of creating lifetime customers.

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