Keep tobacco out of youths' sight

Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Letter to the Editor
Times Union

Like other companies, the tobacco industry uses marketing strategies, such as ads in magazines and posters, to sell its products.

These marketing strategies, the National Cancer Institute notes, usually target children and teens, the future of our world. Placing cigarettes in windows and behind counters, as well as tobacco ads in retail locations, are the main reason that children and teens begin to smoke.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids estimates that tobacco companies spend $1.1 million a day to market their products in New York.

They use bright colors and cute animals to target young people's desires and lead them to think that tobacco products are all right. They get us when we are young.

Kids are being exposed not only to peer pressure every day, but to these ads. How is that fair? Teens and children are learning; we don't always make the right decisions. Why does the tobacco industry play on our weakness? I want kids like myself not to be put under such a hidden pressure in life. Removing tobacco products from the view of young people like me is an easy way to help save many youth from facing early death and disease because of tobacco use.

Help to save the kids. Help to save their families from the pain of seeing their bad choices become physical disaster.

Alex Smith
Porter Corners

The writer is a high school senior and a member of Reality check, a teen-led movement against tobacco industry marketing targeting teens and children.