Charleston City Paper promotes nicotine addiction
Apparently, Sam Spence, the paper’s editor, didn’t get the memo: inhaled nicotine is HIGHLY addictive and likely responsible for killing more Charleston City Paper readers last year than COVID-19.
The issue is dated May 12, 2021. It's 128 pages. Sadly, Charleston City Paper’s Best of Charleston 2021 edition is rife with invitations to experiment with tobacco and become nicotine's lifetime slave.
Page 117 is a full-page RJ Reynolds Lucky Strike ad encouraging readers to "Make it smooth. Make it Luckies." The ad tells readers that they can "Save on Luckies at luckystrike.com."
And which highly disturbing Surgeon General warning are readers shown? "Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide."
How frightening! So do campfires and King Street rush hour air.
According to Page 8, "Winning the Best of Charleston 2021 is a triumph worth celebrating." There, the paper announces Charleston's "Best Smoke Shop," "Best Tobacco Shop" and "Best Cigar Store."
All this at a time when common sense is shouting the insanity of spending trillions on COVID-19 while all but ignoring America’s leading cause of preventable death.
Page 2 teases young gullible readers with a 2½" x 5" ad celebrating Charleston’s "Best" tobacco shop and page 42 continues with a 5" x 6" photo and story, again, about Charleston's "Best Tobacco Shop."
Page 45 names and provides the address and telephone number to Charleston’s "Best Smoke Shop" and "Best Tobacco Shop." It also names runner-ups.
According to DHEC, the 2020 South Carolina COVID-19 death toll (confirmed + probable) was 5,296. As of May 15, DHEC had documented 4,358 2021 COVID deaths.
By comparison, the Centers for Disease Control places 2019 S.C. deaths caused by smoking-related illnesses at 7,200.
Will businesses distributing the paper demand an end to tobacco advertising? Probably not. Are the owners, Andy Brack and Ed Bell, willing to rethink their tobacco advertising policy?
Guys, are these few blood drenched dollars so critical that you're willing to leave thousands of young readers with the impression that smoking is so acceptable and so safe that it’s not only openly advertised in their favorite newspaper, but that CCP annually honors and celebrates nicotine addiction?
How addictive is nicotine? It's so addictive that half of adult smokers end up smoking themselves to death, while 62.4% of e-cig users wish they could stop but can't.
Dynamite, syphilis and fire ant mounds don't need winners either. We're better than this.
