Given the extreme health risks, should marketers stop selling cigarettes even though they are legal and demanded by consumers? Should cigarette marketers continue to use marketing tactics that are restricted in one country in other countries where they are not restricted?
Sixty years ago, about 45 percent of Americans smoked cigarettes, but now the smoking rate is less than 20 percent. This decline results from acquired knowledge on the potential health dangers of smoking and marketing restrictions for this product. Although smoking rates are declining in most developed nations, however, more and more consumers in developing nations, such as Russia and China, are puffing away. Smoker rates in some countries run as high as 40 percent. Developing nations account for more than 70 percent of world tobacco consumption, and marketers are fueling this growth. Most of these nations do not have the restrictions prevalent in developed nations, such as advertising bans, warning labels, and distribution restrictions. Consequently, it is predicted that one billion people worldwide will die this century from smoking-related ailments.