Riding high on 2009's legislative victory, which will allow The Food and Drug Administration to regulate the ingrediants used to make tobacco products, the FDA has entered 2010 swinging. On Thursday, March 18, the FDA announced that it will place heavier restrictions on how tobacco products can be marketed, with a focus on curbing marketing strategies that the tobacco industry uses to lure in children and teenagers. The new guidelines will not be enforced until June 22 of this year, but tobacco companies are already stamping their feet like the kids they want to brand. But are these new rules vapid politics as usual? Empty threats? Or is the FDA actually going to take on the $89 billion dollar per year tobacco giants? 

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Is it over yet? The whole Ed Hardy clothing trend, with its aping of traditional, Sailor Jerry tattoo designs, and status as the mandatory uniform for young adult partiers a la Jersey Shore? Gone? Well, not quite. Though people may be seeing less Ed Hardy clothing at bars and parties, the brand is making sure that it stays around, perhaps even becomes an addiction, as seen in its niche line of tobacco products and hookah pipes, Ed Hardy Hookah.

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For years researchers have confirmed that minority teens have consistently higher rates of tobacco usage than non-minority teens. On the whole, the imbalance between teens of different ethnicities as it relates to smoking has been attributed to socioeconomic factors. That being the case, the majority of supplemental research has focused on economic inhibitors and regional limitations to attempt to pinpoint the specific causes that increase a minority teens’ risk for falling into the tobacco trap.

While the rest of the research world continued mapping the highest risk areas for minority teen smoking rates, a few clever researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine decided to slow things down a bit and try to understand the problem on a simpler level. For the first time, they took a look at smoking rates in minority teens by gender. The results were surprising.

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 In 2007, we blogged about how Rolling Stone published a comic spread dropping indie rock band names explicitly and implicitly via cartoons. Coincidentally or not, Camel ads were placed throughout this "Indie Rock Universe" spread, suggesting Camel's support of indie music, leading some of the bands to file suit against parent companies of Rolling Stone and Camel. Claiming "unauthorized use of artists' names, unauthorized use of artist names for commerical advantage, and unfair business practices," bands like Xiu Xiu and Fxcked Up shouldered the suit for 186 other indie groups, all understandably irked that Rolling Stone and Camel would commisserate to sell indie music followers cigarettes under the endorsement of the bands. Well, last week the final gavel was dropped, and sadly, indie rock took an "L" and Rolling Stone came out as the victor.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, the electoronic cigar!

I suppose it was only a matter of time. Sly marketing has been the surprisingly spry crutch of the tobacco industry for decades despite a general knowing better. People get smarter - nay, more EDUCATED - but big tobacco also wises up as the sand trickles down the glass and they learn to combat new evidence with new marketing. But in recent years, compounding legislative blows have been landed on a bloody and battered industry, and although on the ropes, big tobacco just won't throw that towel. Nearly every city, state, ordinance, township, county, peninsula, and treehouse have restrictions on where and when you can smoke and big tobacco has suffered tremendously. By taking the convenience out of the act, more people decided against taking it up. That is, until the E-cig came along.

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Scientific Representation of Social Networks

When I was in the 6th grade, D.A.R.E. Officer Don talked about peer pressure so much that I honestly believed that when I hit junior high, teenagers would punch my mouth if I didn't want to drink, smoke, or do drugs. The D.A.R.E. workbook had all sorts of suggestions to combat peer pressure, including the broken record technique ("No thanks, I'm cool for now. No thanks, I'm cool for now. No thanks, I'm cool for now."), using humor (?), and avoiding the situation, among others. Officer Don also framed all "users" as being one, consolidated "bad crowd" of youth. But recent research shows that different teens partake in different risks at different levels, and that  direct peer pressure is just a myth conjured by the D.A.R.E. officers and Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" soldiers of yesteryear. And a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Early Adolescence contributed to the debunking of direct peer pressure.

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Branding is important. If you’re going to sell something, whether it be a product or a service, the establishment of a brand identity is key. Endless research, testing and evaluation goes into the longevity of a good brand but what do you if all of the sudden, you’re not allowed to brand the way that has made you a success?

Simple. You redo it overnight.

In June 2009, the U.S. Senate worked with the FDA to regulate the way that big tobacco packages their products. The hubbub was mostly about tobacco’s use of certain words that could be misconstrued by consumers as suggesting that one particular type of cigarette may actually be healthier than another. The types of words in question were “mild,” “light,” “low tar,” and things of that nature. The FDA agreed with the Senate, and gave big tobacco until June 2010 to revamp the way they brand their products.

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The research is in: Big Tobacco should cease to be by 2047. But wait folks, don’t get the champagne bottles out yet, the process is probably going to be an arduous, uphill battle with many sacrifices and due diligence towards our most rowdy populations. Two renowned tobacco researchers outlined the plan of attack and the desimination of the final blow. The right track has already been set, however staying on course will take money, education, and persistance against some of the wealthiest corporations.

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