WJ#9

1)     the specific question you propose to answer for your final research paper

The specific question I would eventually like to answer for my final research paper, is why tobacco marketing strategists heavily target a young demographic. I feel that the primary reason is because as college students and young adults, we are still progressing in the social status of our society and are therefore extremely susceptible to try new things. Something else that I feel will be important for me to address, is how marketers see the opportunity to promote their products at night clubs and bars on or around college campuses. The 18-24 demographic is the youngest available to tobacco companies which is why they typically tend to target urban areas populated by college students.  I have also grown up around people who smoke my entire life, and wonder if there are any specific marketing techniques that introduced them as young adults into using tobacco products.   

2)     your working thesis statement (i.e., a sentence that tells what you think you will prove in that paper, a response to the question you will answer); 

Thus far, I have these two sentences as my working thesis statement; “To me, it is apparent that although we live in a society that holds a double standard for smokers, the marketing of nicotine and tobacco related products towards a younger demographic is essential to large tobacco company’s success. Despite the shrinking number of public places that allow indoor smoking, college night clubs and bars remain attractive venues for marketing strategists to host events that promote youthful tobacco usage.” I feel that this is pretty solid so far, but still might need a couple adjustments before I finish writing my research paper. I know that right now I want my thesis to deal with night clubs and college town bars, but maybe I can go somewhere else with it too. The economic standing of heavily targeted area’s is something that I also might want to incorporate into my thesis.

3)     an overview of what you currently know about the issue 

Currently, I have a pretty wide variety of knowledge about tobacco usage and who they try to aim their products at. Through some of my research, I was able to find out some interesting facts about who exactly the marketing strategists we’re choosing to go after. For example, before looking through my sources, I had no idea that Asians are currently one of the heaviest targeted groups by tobacco corporations. I recognized the correlation between college night clubs and bars with tobacco, so I definitely want to designate a large chunk of research to how exactly students are targeted. I see how people use cigarettes and alcohol conjointly through my fraternity and college life in general so alcohol definitely plays a huge factor when considering when people smoke. Also, I found out that smoking is higher among young adults who do not attend college and live in high crime rate areas.

4)     An overview of what you need to find out about the issue.

What I still need to find out about my topic, is what kind of sources I want to use. I have several scholarly journals that I will be using, but have not really found a good book to read through and use as a source. So far in my research, I’ve found that journals are easy to find, but I need to broaden my research horizons. As I said earlier, I will be conducting a survey on smoking habits so that will be one of my other sources. I also need to find out the specific techniques that marketers use to grab the attention of college students.

5)     A list of arguments which oppose the one you plan to make.

The strongest counter-argument I want to use, is the significance of who is the youngest and most easily acceptable demographic to market too. If you were thinking adventurous, young, naïve college students, you would be correct. Pretty much everyone in college is old enough to smoke and is willing to accept some sort of free tobacco product if offered it; for FREE! I want to put an emphasis on free because I remember reading the book “Predictable Irrational” and it had a chapter pertaining to the power of the word FREE! This is legal to do from the tobacco company’s point of view, and probably a very smart and effective way to keep the youth of America addicted to tobacco products.  

6)     A list of sources you have looked at on the topic at this point.

Rogers, John D. “Test marketing of new smokeless tobacco products in four U.S. cities.” Nicotine and tobacco research, Vol. 12. 69-72. Web. 3 March 2011.

Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved October March 19, 2011, 2009, from thetruth.com: http://www.thetruth.com

Connoly, Gregory, and Carrie M. Carpenter. “Using Alcohol to sell cigarettes to young adults: A content analysis of cigarette advertisements.” Journal of American College Health, Vol. 56. February 28, 2011.

“Tobacco industry targets College Students.” Data: The Brown University Digest of Addiction Theory & Application; Vol. 24. Feb 2005. PDF File.

           

Cheap-cigarettes.com/Marlboro-cigarettess.(n.d.). Retreived October 20, 2009, from cheap-cigarettes.com:http://www.cheap-cigarettes.com/Marlboro-cigarettes.

Paul Metzler's survey of IUP students and their smoking habits.