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Destinee Montoya

International Connections Paper #2

HLTH 1050-505

1 December 2019

What Does Power Have to Do with Tobacco Companies?

Tobacco companies hold so much power over the general population, but especially over

those that are most vulnerable to tobacco use, like adolescents, women, low- and middle-income

populations, and those with low self-esteem. This means that these companies have the ability to

shape things like knowledge, the economy, and the environment that their users are living in.

First of all, the power that these companies have over knowledge is ridiculous. I’m reminded of

the video that we watched in module five about Indonesia’s tobacco problem when I think about

how big tobacco companies can shape the knowledge about tobacco and their products to the

general public. Most of the younger people smoking cigarettes in Indonesia thought that

cigarettes/tobacco didn’t negatively impact their health and weren’t aware of the health risks that

came with smoking. When some of them did learn about the harm that it causes to their body, it

was too late. They had already started to develop serious diseases and health conditions and

couldn’t do anything to reverse them. A lot of these problems are due to how tobacco companies

advertise and market their products. If there aren’t strict rules for marketing tobacco in the area

that big tobacco companies are targeting, they can make their products appear as beneficial to

your social life and health, they might not have to disclose their product’s health risks and can

target people’s insecurities. This power fully shapes that the knowledge that a population can

have.
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Secondly, the power that tobacco companies hold can shape the economy, especially in

developing countries with a weak economy/low- and middle-income population. One of their

strategies that they use is stressing the economic importance of tobacco to these developing

countries that grow it. They make it seem like that that country’s population must depend on

them for jobs or else they can’t survive without them. They also have the ability to monopolize

the job market for these people, so they have no choice but to work for them in order to support

themselves and/or their families.

Lastly, tobacco companies hold a lot of power over what happens to the environment.

Their companies have a negative impact on the environment through tobacco growth,

production, and consumption. In terms of growth and consumption, the pesticides used to grow

and produce tobacco harms the environment, but they don’t care. As long as they’re making their

money and getting people addicted to their products, that’s all that matters. In terms of

consumption, tobacco use has a negative impact on air quality. This means that the air that

people are breathing in where there is tobacco use isn’t quality and can negatively impact their

health. Yet again, tobacco companies are using this power to do more harm than good just so

they can sell their product.