So It Begins...

Here I will begin to take a close look into cigarette smoking. My project, to stop smoking my Marlboro Light 100s cigarettes, is not one simply to chronicle a person's withdrawal from a nicotine addiction. I with to fully explore the social, economic, and political aspects of smoking ranging from the utilization of smoking as a cohesive social agent, the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing strategies behind the world's leading tobacco company, Philip Morris, and finally the governmental policies applied to smoking in contemporary America. To begin, I have stopped smoking as of today, October 1, 2005. With the further analysis I wish to commit to will involve action from the readers. Below are two popular links to websites worthy of study: Philip Morris and Truth, the recent campaign launch to expose dangerous products.

http://www.philipmorris.com/

http://www.thetruth.com/index.cfm?seek=truth

Because marketing is strong for either entity, it is important to look closely how the web sites are designed. Philip Morris seems rather professional and plain, in a clear format stating the business mentality, objectives, and mission statements. Under the marketing side bar, Philip Morris claims that although they with to increase brand awareness of the their products with adults (and Marlboro is the leading name brand in the world as stated by the popular text "The American Promise, A History of the United States" by James L Roark), the company discourages youth smoking. Marketing is important to Truth as well, as they have facilitated urban and vintage 1960s designs to promote youth to visit the site. Also note the music, games, and other links. To be fair, both companies stand as commerical entities, but they do have different marketing strategies. It would be unfair, however, to claim Philip Morris targets young Americans through their website.

Feel free to add to my friends list, post comments, or offer any other articles involving my subject. Thank You.

Justin