Smoking: The Butt Stops Here

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Antismoking sentiment has also been sparked by a disturbing trend in cigarette use. After declining every year since 1974, the percentage of smokers in the population leveled off in 1991 and has stabilized at around 26%. What's more, smoking among certain groups, such as African Americans and the young, may be creeping up: the percentage of high school seniors who smoke increased from 17.2% in 1992 to 19% in 1993. Antismoking activists are growing more alarmed -- and more aggressive. "I can't think of another product that, faced with the scientific evidence which is associated with tobacco, could remain a legal product on the market and almost completely exempt from regulation," says Scott Ballin, executive director of the Washington-based Coalition on Smoking OR Health.

On both sides of the great smoking divide, attitudes seem to be changing. - The angry outbursts by smokers that greeted the initial blizzard of antismoking activity have, in many cases, been replaced by a sense of resignation, almost fatalism. Marcia Spurlock, an Atlanta mortgage lender, smokes 1 1/2 packs a day and goes out of her way not to irritate nonsmokers. "I'll stand outside in the freezing cold to have a cigarette instead of offending anyone," she says. Dave Wahl, an art director for Ogilvy & Mather advertising in Los Angeles, seems equally resigned to traipsing outside his office building whenever he wants a few puffs. "You can't deny it's a dirty habit," he says. "If someone wants to smoke, they should be forced outside."

The tobacco industry too is adjusting its attitudes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoke kills about418,000 people a year, making it the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. For years, however, the cigarette companies maintained a hard line on the medical front, insisting that the evidence linking their product to cancer and other health problems was inconclusive. Today Thomas Lauria, assistant to the president of the Tobacco Institute, opens his defense of smoking this way: "I think that since the '60s, studies have shown that cigarette smoking has been linked as an important risk factor for emphysema, heart disease, lung cancer and other serious problems."

Instead of arguing on health grounds, the tobacco industry now tends to recast the debate as a freedom-of-choice issue. "There are a certain amount of adult consumers who want to enjoy tobacco products," says Lauria. "And like those who drink alcohol or who enjoy high-risk sports activities, it is really up to the individual adult to determine what's appropriate for their own conduct."

Cigarette advertising, meanwhile, has become more savvy. Despite continued complaints about ads that seem targeted at young people -- like the infamous Joe Camel campaign -- cigarette companies claim their marketing efforts today are aimed at keeping the customers they have rather than winning new ones. "It's like preaching to the choir," says Sheri Bridges, assistant professor of management at Wake Forest University's M.B.A. school. "Tobacco companies know who their customers are and where they live. They are focusing on those people who already smoke."