miricha-rambles:

snapchatista:

thepeoplesfriend: edwad: rupsidaisy: gawfzilla: rupsidaisy: I really don’t understand how people from younger generations can smoke… All our lives you’ve seen the consequences, all the information available showing you how terrible it is, and yet you choose to still do it lol like that’s how I know you’re a bad person tbh :/ and I don’t respect you :/ even if you have other redeeming qualities you’re still killing your body from the inside and you’re hurting the people around you how disgusting i love to smoke and be a bad person I love how people think this is a joke like lmfao good god you’re still a disgusting moron and yes you’re a bad person that’s it that’s the end ….. A) nicotine is a hunger suppressant which is why it’s overwhelmingly poor people who smoke. In the majority of the United States and in the whole of the 3rd world it’s cheaper to buy a pack of cigarettes than to eat lunch B) for people who are depressed or who are in a shit place, cigarettes are pretty much the most socially acceptable form of self destruction, like yeah people know that cigarettes fucking kill you no shit

also, for a lot of food service and hospitality workers, smoking offsets some of the enormous amounts of stress that comes with those jobs. some employers even allow for an additional 5 or so minute break for smoking for their workers, it’s how i picked up smoking back when i did. so maybe if you understood something about work and stress and poverty you’d understand a bit about why people smoke, as well as seeing how the worst consequences come not from smoking but capitalism and its effects on the bodies of workers, especially those working food service/hospitality

not to mention how aggressively cigarettes are marketed to people of color, the lgbtq community, poor people, and kids



There are far more cigarette advertisements in poorer communities and communities of color. Tobacco advertising can be incredibly effective, especially in encouraging young people to start smoking. According to an article in the American Journal of Public Health, “A number of studies have determined that children are 3 times as susceptible to tobacco advertising than adults and that such advertising is a more powerful inducement than is peer pressure”. and tobacco companies are *really good* at advertising targeted to certain groups. For example, from the same article mentioned above: “The marketing and biochemical research documents that were released as part of Minnesota’s 1996 settlement with Big Tobacco reveal a staggeringly exhaustive research dossier on African American culture, habits, physiology, and biochemistry. This intimate portrait of Black America enabled the design of special tobacco products developed with African Americans in mind. The special blends were then painstakingly test marketed down to the smallest cynical details; these included packaging with an Afrocentric red, black, and green color scheme, an “X” logo that evokes political hero Malcolm X, and packs that opened from the bottom because demographic surveys revealed that this was a favored practice of Black men.”



As African Americans have become more aware of and resistant to these sorts of manipulative practices, tobacco companies began to target the LGBT community. A lot of lgbt gathering spaces tend to be bars, so young lgbtq people trying to find communities may be exposed to environments where there are a lot of smokers. additionally, tobacco companies continue to target ads to lgbtq consumers, a population that has at least twice the smoking rate of cishet people. When organizations like ACT-UP challenged such actions, tobacco companies donated massive amounts to AIDS organizations.

And quitting smoking is expensive and can be really really difficult. it’s made easier by access to healthcare and support systems - not something everyone has.

tl;dr so yeah. smokers aren’t disgusting terrible people. tobacco companies use their influence and targeted marketing campaigns to encourage disproportionality marginalized and vulnerable people to engage in this deadly habit.

Some sources/further reading:

Burning Love: Big Tobacco Takes Aim at LGBT Youths



Youth Targeting By Tobacco Manufacturers Since The Master Settlement Agreement



Reversal of Misfortune: Viewing Tobacco as a Social Justice Issue

