Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The irony of banning advertising for "light" cigarettes

Tomorrow, cigarette packs no longer can feature names such as "light," "mild," "medium" or "low."  The reason is that smokers respond to the lower (health) costs of smoking light cigarettes by smoking more:
Light cigarette smokers ... are both likely to smoke more light cigarettes or inhale light cigarettes more deeply in comparison to ordinary cigarette smokers.
Most news outlets are reporting that the advertising ban will reduce deception, but it seems the better metaphor is that of moral hazard. This is another in a long line of results, beginning with the observation that seat belts caused more accidents, that people respond to incentives, even when we don't want them to.
Researchers have found that improved parachute rip cords did not reduce the number of sky-diving accidents; overconfident sky divers hit the silk too late. The number of flooding deaths in the United States has hardly changed in 100 years despite the construction of stronger levees in flood plains; people moved onto the flood plains, in part because of subsidized flood insurance and federal disaster relief. Studies suggest that workers who wear back-support belts try to lift heavier loads and that children who wear protective sports equipment engage in rougher play. Forest rangers say wilderness hikers take greater risks if they know that a trained rescue squad is on call. Public health officials cite evidence that enhanced HIV treatment can lead to riskier sexual behavior.

1 comment:

  1. As time goes on and more information becomes available on the effects of smoking, as well as more legislation like not being able to smoke in a car with a minor, smoking is increasingly becoming more and more unpopular. The deceptive advertising for smoking is similar to what the food industry is doing currently. They are advertising certain foods and low and no fat, but what is replacing the fat is worse, and the food still typically contains high contents of sugar as well, which has the same effect as cocaine does on the brain. People think they are being healthy by eating low/no fat foods, only to find out they are gaining more weight from them. There was a documentary I recently watched which I cannot remember the name of. The experiment was to eat foods that were considered "healthy" to must people, but were in fact loaded with sugar. The man in the experiment was in great shape when it started, but 6 weeks later, was lethargic and gained quite a bit of weight. His doctor thought he was crazy to do this, but he wanted to create awareness that although something is advertised as low or no fat, to make sure to read all ingredients and make sure it was healthy before consuming it.

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