The issue facing the tobacco industry today is whether or not their product will be stringently regulated or even banned. The product is already subject to a number of restrictions in American cities, and both the Canadian and U.S. governments have placed severe restrictions on the ability of tobacco companies to advertise their products in the media. The companies have found a way around the ban on television advertising of cigarettes, however, by sponsoring sporting and cultural events where the name of the product is prominently featured so that it appears almost constantly on the screen during the event. We can assume that this has an effect on the consumer, and certainly the tobacco companies have made this assumption given the amount of money they are spending to make their name visible to viewers. The companies point out that they are producing a legal product in compliance with all laws and regulations and that they and their product should not be discriminated against or demonized by legislators. They sometimes also claim that the rationale for such legislative attacks, that tobacco is harmful to health, may be based on false or flimsy scientific evidence, though this is a position that is becoming more difficult to defend all the time. Opponents of tobacco advertising see the issue in terms of the protection of children, claiming that advertising recruits new smokers and thus perpetuates this health problem from generation to generation. In deciding whether Canada should impose tougher restrictions on tobacco, a look to the U.S. experience is helpful.
The issue of tobacco advertising has been controversial in recent years, and many have called for further restrictions on this advertising or even for an outright ban. Until recently, restrictions on the content and placement of tobacco advertising, such as its exclusion from radio and television, were the result of voluntary agreements between governments and the i...