Within the political system of democracy, special interest groups mobilize their resources to protect their interests. Some of this activity is directed into the political system, and some is directed into the media. It is the purpose of this essay to explore how the tobacco industry mobilizes itself to protect its economic interests, and how their public relations efforts are directed to that end. The thesis of this essay is that although the tobacco industry conducts health programs for teenagers in public relations efforts, the actual intent is to preserve the profits of the industry.
One of the health problems facing the U.S. is that teenagers consider smoking to be an attractive activity, emulating images in entertainment, following peer influence, and responding to advertising of the large tobacco companies. This situation may not be a problem during the youthful years, but it often leads to addiction in the adult years. As adolescents are forming their self-concepts, they are vulnerable to the opinions of others, and cigarette advertising effectively reaches children while they are very young, shaping their perceptions and behavior (Hooked on Tobacco 7). One survey revealed that 98 percent of adolescents recognized cigarette advertising characters, and 41 percent of the three-year-olds surveyed said they liked cigarettes (Hooked on Tobacco, 5-6). Appealing characters, such as Joe Camel are perceived to be attractive and cool, leading youth into possible health-damaging behavior.
According to Best, social problems are termed problematic in several ways. They are objectively named, subjectively determined to be a problem, or conditions are typified into particular types of problems (Best 7-9). All this is true of the incidence of smoking among teenagers and the continuation of the habit into adulthood, creating certain health risks. In recent years, more information in this area has brought attention to the healt...