A grim fairy tale

Once upon a time, R. J. Reynolds and Camel had a brilliant idea. It was time to find new buyers for the whole slew of people who died due to smoking, year after year. “Eureka!” they said. “We’ll sell tobacco flavored candy so that we can keep our numbers up with addicts who can’t light up in restaurants AND it will appeal to kids.” Now, Camel had been in plenty of trouble before because they marketed to minors, but hey, what was a few million in court costs when there would be possibly billions in revenue from new suckers customers? So off they went, to the lands of Portland, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, to showcase their wares to the children legal age tobacco users. They studied the usage of their product. When teachers confiscated the candy from students because of its distinctive shape packaging, they reshaped it to look like a cell phone! They also offered childproof packaging to avoid lawsuits stemming from little ones getting their hands on it while lulling parents into a false sense of security. To complete their diabolical marketing strategy, they asserted that the majority of cancer issues that come from cigarettes are due to the smoking process. (Never mind those people who get mouth cancer from smokeless products).

Almost Two years later…

I made the bonehead decision to get my son a subscription to popular science.  It’s a good thing my husband and I were nosy about what was in the thing. It was plastered with Camel’s special brand of candy and other tobacco products (one was even described as wholesome and informed me of the vast number of American farmers supported by the cancer stick cigarette production) and even an article declaring that tobacco may keep us from getting the flu. I guess somebody’s working hard for that corner office in Hell.