Big Tobacco hates for people to know anything about their products besides what appears in their ads. And I don’t blame them. Who didn’t love Joe Camel? You remember, he is camel with penchant for dressing up in stereotypical masculine gear like hard hats, T-shirts, skin-diving wet suits and tuxedos — all meant to appeal to the male smokers who predominate among Camel customers. That’s the emotional stimulation tobacco companies want their consumers to feel — not the latest Food and Drug Administration scare tactics.
Making sure that the government respects their gangster, four of five largest tobacco companies have come together to fight “the man” and his new cigarette labels, which are meant to give consumers accurate portrayals of prolonged smoking. Just another example of the government taking away American’s freedom of choice.
According to the AP, the group of tobacco executives, which is led by R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard Tobacco Co., thinks the labels disproportionally promote the negative aspects of smoking. They feel their customers are savvy enough to understand the consequences of smoking without it being blatantly shoved down their throats.
The lawsuit said the images were manipulated to be especially emotional. The tobacco companies said the corpse photo is actually an actor with a fake scar, while the healthy lungs were sanitized to make the diseased organ look worse.
Tobacco companies are also up-in-arms about the cost they have pay to place those defamatory government ads on their very legal product. Can you imagine if every McDonalds fry had a picture of a person with diabetes injecting himself with insulin. This is clearly not fair to Big Tobacco; it’s encroaching upon their freedom to capitalize off their delicious, chemically-altered nicotine sticks.
Citing that they’re being singled out unfairly, the cigarette litigants are completely mad they might have to dip into their advertising and marketing budget to fight the government:
Never before in the United States have producers of a lawful product been required to use their own packaging and advertising to convey an emotionally-charged government message urging adult consumers to shun their products.
We totally agree Big Tobacco! It’s unfair tobacco companies have to fight tirelessly against government bureaucracies, university scientists, and the fallout from people who die because they don’t have strong enough lungs to fight cancer and respiratory diseases. It’s not your fault that you produce a product that’s to die for — nobody is forcing people to smoke, and according the Constitution, Americans have the freedom to die early.
So, lay-off President Obama! We all know you didn’t ban menthol in cigarettes because you love your Newports after a long day of talking to House Speaker, fellow smoker, and resident Umpa Lumpa, John Boehner.