All posts by Pepe Lepew

China attempting to crack down on cigarette marketing

September 4, 2015 Pepe Lepew

Another interesting story … the power of a world economic dynamo …telling Big Tobacco and trying to tell its own tobacco monopoly to “Piss off.”

China, the No. 1 tobacco consumer market in the world, yes, far, far beyond the U.S. (300 million Chinese smokers compared to 45 million Americans), is cracking down on cigarette marketing.

The Chinese government announced strict new rules about tobacco marketing this week. From now on, tobacco ads are banned in mass media, outdoors and public areas and transportation. I assume this means no tobacco ads on TV, on buses or cabs or on billboards.

What’s interesting about this move is that China has a monopoly on its tobacco market. Western Big Tobacco companies such as Imperial Tobacco and Philip Morris only control 1 percent to 2 percent of the market (I covered this years ago. Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds and Imperial Tobacco attempted to make serious inroads into China, but the Chinese weren’t stupid and rebuffed them. They realize there is too much money to be simply given away to non-Chinese corporations to allow that.). The rest of the market is controlled by a Chinese state agency. So you have one Chinese state agency more or less facing off against another.

Holy crap, according to this Reuters article, the Chinese tobacco administration control 7 percent to 10 percent of the revenue in China — as much as $127 billion a year (U.S.).

The whole thrust of this is to try and crack down on tobacco companies marketing to kids. So, China is facing some of the same marketing issues seen in the West during the past 50 or so years.

From the Reuters story:

In an interview, Liang Xiaofeng, deputy director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said he expected the government to further hike taxes on tobacco, since teenaged smokers are more price-sensitive.

“We believe that hiking prices will impact minors in large part because they don’t have their own income,” he added.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

CVS Pharmacy

CVS bailing on tobacco sales results in impressive drop in cigarette sales overall

September 4, 2015 Pepe Lepew

Very interesting story. CVS Pharmacies about a year ago announced it would no longer be selling any tobacco products.

It’s just one drug store chain, right? No big deal, right? Well, it turns out that decision resulted in a 1 percent reduction in cigarette sales in 13 states … that’s 95 million packs of cigarettes. That means smokers weren’t just running to other outlets; it actually helped cut the number of cigarettes being sold.

Hey, you see 1 percent, I see 95 million packs of cigarettes. Every little bit helps. 95 million packs is 1 percent. That gives you a clue to the shocking amount of cigarettes still being sold in the U.S.

From a Washington Post article:

Troyen Brennan, chief medical officer for CVS Health, said many people thought that smokers would simply go elsewhere to buy cigarettes once the chain stopped selling them. “What this research shows is that we were right,” he said. By removing a convenient place to buy cigarettes, he said, “we had an overall impact on sales of tobacco products.”

CVS did its own study that showed the pharmacy chain once controlled 15 percent of the drug store tobacco sales market in 13 states. Most of these states were in the Deep South.

From the Post article:

“I think people would be surprised that a single store, even one as large as CVS, could have a direct and measurable effect on tobacco use in the community in which it has a significant presence,” said Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

A 1 percent drop in sales may not seem like a big number, he said. “But given the number of smokers, it’s an extraordinary impact,” he said. He said the organization will be calling on other major retailers to take similar action.

I’m putting my money, as little as it is, where my mouth lies to the best of my ability. I go out of my way and buy all my allergy and sinus medication at CVS now.

Boston Red Sox, Chew in baseball, Chewing tobacco, Uncategorized

Boston bans chewing tobacco in Fenway Park — MLB Players’ Association, your move

September 3, 2015 Pepe Lepew

Boston has joined San Francisco in banning chewing tobacco in all ballparks, including Major League Ballparks like Fenway.

The move is, I believe, part of a push to force the Major League Baseball Players’ Association to accept a league-wide ban on chewing tobacco. Chewing tobacco is already banned by the NCAA and in Minor League Baseball. MLB can’t ban chewing tobacco on the field or in the dugouts without the cooperation of the MLB Players’ Association. The issue of chew is set to be negotiated between the Players’ Association and MLB during the next contract discussions this off-season.

This legislation, which will take effect in April 2016, won’t really affect fans, because tobacco use is already banned within the stadium, according to the Boston Globe. It is a somewhat symbolic measure directed at the players and coaches on the field and in the dugouts.

In addition to San Francisco and Boston, the city of L.A. is considering a similar ban, which would affect players and coaches chewing at Dodger Stadium. There is also a bill in the California State Assembly to ban it all ballparks in the entire state.

From the Boston Globe article:

“These great baseball cities have set a powerful example that should be quickly followed by all of Major League Baseball,” said a statement from Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Chewing tobacco is deeply entrenched in the culture of baseball. One recent survey showed that about 30 percent of baseball players chew tobacco, while only about 7 percent of men overall chew.

Red Sox owner John Henry supports the ban. It will be interesting to see if David Ortiz will drop the chew once the ban takes effect next year. Ortiz is beloved in Boston for not putting up with authority and he is a known chewer.

Anti-tobacco campaign, Truth.org

Truth! ad talk of VMAs … new Truth! ads damned scary as crap!

September 1, 2015 Pepe Lepew 1 Comment

You can tell the people who have created some the latest Truth! ads grew up watching John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” which I remember as one of the scariest movies of all time.

The Truth! anti-smoking campaign got a lot of attention at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards for its puking unicorn ad. I actually found this ad pretty funny. This ad does a very witty take on various Internet memes to point out that “social smoking” and hookah smoking is a trap. You don’t just smoke a few cigarettes and then quit. It’s all still got nicotine and it’s all incredibly addictive. Today, you’re smoking a few cigs, tomorrow you’re smoking a pack a day. 30 years from now, you’ve failed to quit and now you have COPD or cancer.

Here is the “It’s a Trap!” ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4srWvLXZRw

However, over the past few months, I’ve seen an ever better ad campaign, that I know came from “The Thing” remake from about 1981. In these commercials, a really disgusting monster/giant spider attacks a teen or science teacher while someone explains how toxic and full of poisons it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp8fcHI0-BI

As a bunch of teens scream and run away from it, the monster retreats into a pack of cigarettes. The point is, “if you really knew how scary cigarettes were, would you smoke them.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giMr9zadSjA

Those commercials always reminded me of the damned head-crap scene from The Thing that completely freaked me out when I was about 17. This movie got panned reviews when it came out, but it’s now considered a cult horror classic with some of the most gruesome special effects imaginable for the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15hHUK1lIgk

I love these commercials because kids love to be scared to this day and age. There aren’t as many horror movies geared to kids today as there were when I was a kid but it’s a great way to get the message through to kids that they can relate to — cigarette are scary. In a very gross and disgusting way. If you’ve ever watched someone die from COPD or cancer, it is very, very scary to see what it does to a person.

American Spirit, FDA

FDA: End of the line for so-called “natural” and “additive-free” tobacco products

August 28, 2015 Pepe Lepew 1 Comment

Awesome story. The Food and Drug Administration told RJ Reynolds and other cigarette companies to stop it with their false advertising about “natural tobacco” cigarette products — this includes the infamous “American Spirit” brand of cigarettes.

American Spirit claims to be a “natural, additive-free” cigarette brand. A lot of people believe these are Native-made cigarettes, but in fact, American Spirit is a wholly owned subsidiary of RJ Reynolds, makers of Camel cigarettes and plenty of other nasty-ass brands. It’s all a big show that has fooled many people.

From an NBC article:

“The FDA has determined that these products, described as ‘natural’ and ‘additive-free’ on their labeling, need an FDA modified risk tobacco product order before they can be legally introduced as such into interstate commerce,” the agency said in a statement.

“The FDA’s job is to ensure tobacco products are not marketed in a way that leads consumers to believe cigarettes with descriptors like ‘additive-free’ and ‘natural’ pose fewer health risks than other cigarettes, unless the claims have been scientifically supported,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.

“This action is a milestone, and a reminder of how we use the tools of science-based regulation to protect the U.S. public from the harmful effects of tobacco use.”

This affects a couple of other brands, but American Spirit is the most high-profile. This has been yet again one of Big Tobacco’s big lies. That somehow tobacco brands with fewer additives are “natural” and (hint, hint) without actually coming right out and saying so, because coming right out and saying so would be incredibly @#$%ing illegal, they’re some safer or healthier.

Nope, nope, nope, nothing could be further from the truth. These brands (two others I hadn’t heard of previously are Nat Sherman and ITG) are NOT safer and do NOT contain fewer additives. Many years ago, Big Tobacco kept trying to find sneaky and dishonest ways to market their products as somehow being safer or “approved by doctors.” The industry’s lies about these ads was long ago exposed. The whole “natural” and “additive-free” lie is using the same techniques as the old “four out of five doctors approve Camels” ads from the 1940s and 1950s.

The FDA several years ago was given regulatory authority over tobacco and specifically nicotine by a bill signed by Barack Obama. That authority gives the FDA the authority to control the marketing of cigarette products. The whole “natural, additive-free” fight has been a thorn in the side of tobacco control advocates for years. And now, it appears the FDA isn’t screwing around and cracking down.

By the same token, I believe the FDA could use this same power to crack down on the marketing of e-cigs, since they are likewise a nicotine product.

As an aside, several years ago, a really angry email from me actually convinced Discovery Magazine to drop “American Spirit” ads from its magazine. A reminder that giving a damn can make a real difference sometimes.

e-cigarettes, e-cigs

Another study about e-cigs: They’re great! Or at least much better than cigarettes

August 19, 2015 Pepe Lepew

A glowing study about e-cigs out just came out of England this week that in some ways 180 degrees contradicts another study done at the University of Southern California.

Public Health England came out with an absolutely glowing report on e-cigs …. so glowing that I’m immediately left a little skeptical about who was really behind it and what their agendas may have been. However, I can’t really question the biggest conclusion in the report, which is e-cigs are 95 percent safer than cigarettes. I can buy that. The report calls this, “the best estimate so far…”

The report suggests that e-cigs may one day be dispensed like a medicine such as nicotine patches or nicotine gum to help smokers quit.

From a Guardian article:

While stressing that e-cigarettes are not free from risk, PHE now believes that e-cigarettes “have the potential to make a significant contribution to the endgame for tobacco”.

The message was backed by the government’s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, who nevertheless cautioned that “there continues to be a lack of evidence on the long-term use of e-cigarettes”. She said they should only be used as a means to help smokers quit.

“I want to see these products coming to the market as licensed medicines. This would provide assurance on the safety, quality and efficacy to consumers who want to use these products as quitting aids, especially in relation to the flavourings used, which is where we know least about any inhalation risks.”

Kevin Fenton, director of health and wellbeing at PHE, said: “E-cigarettes are not completely risk-free but when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm.

“The problem is people increasingly think they are at least as harmful and this may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting. Local stop-smoking services should look to support e-cigarette users in their journey to quitting completely.”

Peter Hajek, of Queen Mary University, London, one of the independent authors of the review, said: “My reading of the evidence is that smokers who switch to vaping remove almost all the risks smoking poses to their health. Smokers differ in their needs and I would advise them not to give up on e-cigarettes if they do not like the first one they try. It may take some experimentation with different products and e-liquids to find the right one.”

I’m all for e-cigs being used as a smoking cessation tool. Studies are very mixed as far as e-cigs’ effectiveness for quitting cigarettes, but I know the anecdotal information is pretty strong. I’ve seen tons of e-cig users online absolutely swearing by them (poor Haruko got into it with some of these folks) as “life-saving,” a “Godsend,” a “miracle.” etc., etc. You see so much of that anecdotal testimony online that you have to take it seriously. My attitude is when all else has failed, try them. You have nothing to lose.

And I really like the idea of e-cigs being prescribed and only sold over the counter at pharmacies, etc. That would make it much more difficult for kids to get them and to get started using them for their nicotine jolt rather than cigarettes.

However, this is where I think the English study goes off the rails and I think makes a dangerous assertion. The study also suggests there is zero evidence that e-cigs leads to kids smoking. This completely contradicts a study from USC that came out just the day before, which states that kids who take up vaping are more likely to use tobacco than kids who never vape.

From the Guardian article:

The switch in policy towards e-cigarettes coincided with publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association of research from Los Angeles suggesting that high school students who had use e-cigarettes are more likely to go on to try tobacco.

But Hajek said this did not show that vaping leads to smoking. “It just shows that people who are attracted to e-cigarettes are the same people who are attracted to smoking. People who drink white wine are more likely to try red wine than people who do not drink alcohol.”

Well, when other studies have said otherwise, colour me skeptical on this conclusion at best.

e-cigarettes, e-cigs, Uncategorized

MAJOR slam on e-cigs — study shows kids who use e-cigs are actually more likely to take up smoking

August 19, 2015 Pepe Lepew

Man, this totally symbolizes what I hate about e-cigs and disgusting e-cigarette marketing.

A recent University of Southern California study shows that kids who take up e-cigs are more likely to start smoking than kids who never use e-cigs.

The study surveyed 2,500 kids and found that a higher percentage of kids who take up smoking vaped first than those who never vaped. Thirty-one percent of the kids who vaped moved on to tobacco products while only 8 percent of non-vapers did.

I would absolutely love it if the only use of e-cigs was by people trying to quit. But, the rate of vaping among teenagers is skyrocketing (it’s tripled since 2011). This study strongly suggest that it is not helping to steer kids away from actual smoking, e-cigs are actually helping to create more eventual smokers.

From an NBC News article:

This could simply show that some kids are more rebellious than others, or keen to try new things, the researchers said. Or it could be some are more easily seduced by nicotine — the active ingredient in both e-cigarettes and traditional combustible tobacco products.

“Adolescents who enjoy the experience of inhaling nicotine via e-cigarettes could be more apt to experiment with other nicotine products, including smokeable tobacco,” Leventhal said.

Researchers blame the marketing. E-cigs aren’t under the same rules as cigarettes, they can use cool cartoon characters to market to kids. And rock and roll music and international superstar Steven Dorff (????) decked out in a hip racing uniform vaping his e-cig … and e-cig advertising on girls’ panties. No rules against any of that. Thank you, Food and Drug Adminstration for dragging your feet for two @#$%ing years on this.

From the NBC article:

“There is ample evidence that e-cigarettes are marketed in ways that appeal to children and adolescents. Prompt, effective action is needed to protect youth and reduce the demand for e-cigarettes by nonsmokers of all ages,” Dr. Nancy Rigotti of the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School wrote in a commentary.

California, Cigarette taxes

California Legislature finally considering raising cigarette taxes $2 a pack

August 18, 2015 Pepe Lepew

I know this will surprise a lot of people, but California actually has one of the lowest state cigarette taxes in the U.S. Californians only pay 87 cents a pack on cigarettes, while the average state cigarette tax in the country is $1.60.

California legislators a couple of years ago chickened out and punted the issue of raising cigarette taxes to the voters and after Big Tobacco poured millions upon millions into fighting the ballot measure, The measure, Proposition 9, failed by a vote of 50.3 percent to 49.7 percent in 2012. That measure would have raised state cigarette taxes from 87 cents a pack to a still-very-reasonable $1.87 a pack.

Now, the California Assembly is considering raising the tax to $2.87 a pack. Be careful what you wish for, Big Tobacco and stupid Libertarians.

The tax proposal is part of a special session being considered by Gov. Jerry Brown to raise funds for crumbling infrastructure and health care needs in California. A proposed raise in the state gas tax would go toward fixing roads and bridges in the state and a proposed cigarette tax increase (up to $2 a pack) is being considered to help with Medicaid and other health care costs

According to the San Jose Mercury News, cigarettes contribute $18 billion a year to health care costs in California. This information comes from UC-San Francisco, where my hero Stanton Glantz, a pioneering tobacco control scientist, is a professor.

It still blows my mind that California has one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the entire country — only a handful of states, mostly in the Deep South, are lower. In a few weeks, California in one fell swoop could become one of the most expensive states in the country to buy cigarettes.

Smoking bans, Stillbirths

Study: Smoking bans linked to drop in stillbirths, newborn deaths

August 18, 2015 Pepe Lepew

The research suggests that almost 1,500 stillbirths and newborn deaths were averted in the first four years after the smoking ban was introduced in England in 2007

A really important study from the U.K, furthering bolstering the long-ago established benefit of smoking bans.

Many, many, many, many studies claim that smoking bans result in a drop in heart attack admissions in local hospitals. (These studies drive smokers’ righters and Michael Siegel out of their minds, but there are SO many of these studies that all reach the same conclusion, only a smoking fanatic would adore them.). A new study from the University of Edinburgh now suggests that stats back up the hypothesis that smoking bans result in lower rates of stillbirths and newborn deaths. According to this study, stillbirths and newborn deaths both dropped 8 percent.

It’s well known that smoking is a huge risk factor for stillbirths. This study backs the idea that secondhand smoke also causes stillbirths.

From the University Herald article:

“This study is further evidence of the potential power of smoke-free legislation to protect present and future generations from the devastating health consequences of smoking and second hand exposure to tobacco smoke,” Aziz Sheikh, co-director of the University of Edinburgh’s Center for Medical Informatics, said in a statement.

According to the article, the number of stillbirths and newborn deaths dropped by 1,500 in the U.K. in the four years since a smoking ban was put in in place. 1,500 lives saved, just in the U.K. How many thousands of lives have been saved in the U.S. and worldwide by similar smoking bans?

Tetris

Australian study: Tetris good for something — reducing cravings for cigarettes

August 17, 2015 Pepe Lepew

2952d01320722cf324bf02c639e7cd8a — Jesus, move the block to the far left, you can take out four lines at once!

In the category of “I really can’t make this crap up,” a new study has shown that playing Tetris helps reduce cravings for nicotine (and food), possibly by stimulating the same part of the brain that controls cravings.

In this study from Australia, students were told to report when they had cravings for cigarettes, food and even sex. Half the students were given an iPad to play Tetris. Students reported that playing the game reduced their cravings “by a fifth.” (And how cravings are measured is beyond me.)

From a Daily Mail article:

The boffins from Plymouth University reckon playing the game works because it occupies the same mental processes used to imagine indulging in the craving.

The week-long study, which also involved Queensland University of Technology, Australia, focused on 31 undergraduates, aged between 18 and 27.

Professor Jackie Andrade, of Plymouth University, said: ‘This is the first demonstration that cognitive interference can be used outside the lab to reduce cravings for substances and activities other than eating.

‘We think the Tetris effect happens because craving involves imagining the experience of consuming a particular substance.

‘Playing a visually interesting game like Tetris occupies the mental processes that support that imagery. It is hard to imagine something vividly and play Tetris at the same time.’

So, in all seriousness, perhaps this could actually help people quit smoking. Whenever people get the urge to smoke, perhaps they should reach for their iPhone and start playing Tetris (and I imagine other video games would like have a similar effect.).

By the way, Tetris is one of those old school games that I actually find kind of addicting. I’m still trying to find an old MS-DOS game a roommate of mine had about 25 years ago called “Hustle!” that was ridiculously addicting. It was one of those snake games, but I’ve never been able to find the exact game she had.