The Tobacco Industry: Public Relations Geniuses

This one is too amusing to pass up. “U.S. Report: More Nicotine in Cigarettes”

Man, that is the news I needed! A better world is on the way!

Evidently, the tobacco industry is making a strategic move to keep people from heeding the mountains of data that says smoking is plain old unacceptable in society and deadly to boot: they have juiced the amount of nicotine in the remaining cigarettes, making it harder to quit.

This makes sense. All over the world – even in France and Spain, for the love of Pete – people are cracking down on smoking. Heart disease and erectile dysfunction aren’t that much fun. It’s not allowed in bars in some cities. Cigarettes have got a lot going against their future.

So the Massachusetts Department of Health discovers two things: One, smoking behavior isn’t changing. Two, there is 10% more nicotine in the cigarettes out there.

Does it stand to reason that there would be a reduction in smoking if there wasn’t a higher level of the most addictive substance on Earth added to today’s smokes?

Is this not the tobacco industry’s way to shore up defenses against the inevitable? Note that they do not comment on this.

To quote one of my futurist colleagues regarding tobacco companies: “The question is not whether they are evil. The question is whether they are evil or Super Evil.“