FDA Does Intended Use violate the First Amendment?

[skoony]

Joe Camel - did this campaign increase the number of teens smoking overall, or did it gain market share of the teen market?

That's an interesting question. As I recall at one time 30-33% of underage smokers
used camel products. It was asserted that it was because of Joe Camel. On the face
of it, it would be logical to assume younger people were attracted to the product because
they thought Joe Camel was cool. Apparently many thought this was true. The problem
was when the advertising restrictions went through there was no 30-33% reduction in
in the use of Camel products in the underage category. As a mater of fact there was no
reduction of use of any tobacco product in the underage category. If all these kids were
automatons perhaps Jedi mind tricks like advertising and flavor bans might have worked.
Kids back then like the kids now know what products are meant for the adult market.
Even back when the infamous Fred Flintstone smoking commercial debacle kids like
me ( I was about 7 then ) understood they were advertising to adults. After all Fred
and Barney were adults. If one remembers during the first run of the original Flintstones
series the demographics showed adult viewership was always higher than 50% it
becomes apparent why some thought it was a good idea to promote cigarettes
via a popular adult venue. Real live celebrities did it all the time. Almost half the
adult population smoked. There was no nefarious attempt to lure the chillin' into
a terrible life time addiction to the evil nicotine. That concept wasn't even on the
agenda back then.

Regards
Mike

 

[englishmick]

But getting back to current reality (pre-FDA deeming), if eCigs were advertised say every Super Bowl, and in way that shows it to be great recreational choice, according to pro-vaping perspective, I think it would for sure be more than current/former smokers that have interest in the activity, even with all the anti-propaganda that's around.

I get what you're saying about vaping potentially being an attractive fun activity, outside of its role as a way of quitting smoking. The latter was all it meant to me when I started. I don't think I've ever seen it promoted that way, other than by way of mouth. I see it that way now, a lot of folks here do I'm sure. And that's probably what it is to a lot of non-smoking teenagers.

But like you pointed out there would be a huge hill to climb in terms of beating back the negative image of nicotine, and revealing the positive aspects of the stuff. Plus, to be honest, vaping is quite a complicated business with all the gear and sticky messiness, and the knowledge you have to accumulate to get the best out of it. It's a time and energy intensive hobby. People need to have a strong incentive to go through all that. Quitting provides the incentive to fight your way up the learning curve.

Might be easier if someone came up with a simple pick it up and go option. Something like a cigalike that actually worked.

 

[AndriaD]

I get what you're saying about vaping potentially being an attractive fun activity, outside of its role as a way of quitting smoking. The latter was all it meant to me when I started. I don't think I've ever seen it promoted that way, other than by way of mouth. I see it that way now, a lot of folks here do I'm sure. And that's probably what it is to a lot of non-smoking teenagers.

But like you pointed out there would be a huge hill to climb in terms of beating back the negative image of nicotine, and revealing the positive aspects of the stuff. Plus, to be honest, vaping is quite a complicated business with all the gear and sticky messiness, and the knowledge you have to accumulate to get the best out of it. It's a time and energy intensive hobby. People need to have a strong incentive to go through all that. Quitting provides the incentive to fight your way up the learning curve.

Might be easier if someone came up with a simple pick it up and go option. Something like a cigalike that actually worked.

Absolutely. Which is probably one reason why most minors don't drink liquor -- they're rather get the stuff that tastes like kool-aid with a kick -- so tell the FDA, they have to ban wine coolers and flavored vodka ASAP, so that they aren't being marketed to kids.

And what Jman said in his earlier post, about kids getting info about what it feels like to use a product, from other kids -- ABSOLUTELY! Before I started smoking, I asked quite a few of my friends that I knew had at least tried smoking, what it felt and tasted like -- because I knew damn well that no adult would give me a straight answer; in fact probably the ONLY answer an adult would give would be something along the lines of "it doesn't matter, because kids aren't allowed to smoke." Yeah, like that ever stopped 'em. Adults the world over seem to be afflicted with selective amnesia, of how it felt to be a kid, and how effective adult rules were on governing their behavior -- many parents seem to have the idea that just telling their kids not to do something, means they won't do it. Yeah, when winged primates issue from my .... orifice.

Adults desperately need to get over themselves, and remember that they used to be kids too -- and then try to remember how it felt to be bullied by petty dictators about EVERYTHING. My mother telling me not to do something was plenty of reason for me to run right out and do that thing ASAP.

Andria