Date: Sat, May 5, 2001 8:52 PM Subject: Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Reports Dear Commission members, The FTC's request for comments asks whether the reports requiring the tobacco industry to disclose expenditures related to advertising is useful and should continue. Here is my comment: YES, they are absolutely useful and YES they should continue. For example, the fact that the top three advertisers of cigarettes happen to be the top three brands smoked by teens is useful information when exposing tobacco industry influence over teen smoking behavior. If we truly want to reduce youth smoking then we must show young people how they are being manipulated by advertising. Without the information about what the tobacco industry is spending on advertising we can not show the link between said advertising and teen brand loyalty. My husband died of lung cancer due to addiction at age 14. He tried many time to quit with the help of many products. He was able to quit 3 years before being diagnosed with lung cancer. Cigerettes are a terrible addiction. We need to protect our youth so that they are not robbed of their golden years like we were. Please continue to require the tobacco industry to disclose information regarding their advertising of tobacco products. Thank you, Florence Hammelev |