Smoking is a bad habit but why do we have advertisements on them?
I have had the same question in my mind as well. In India commercials that advertises smoking products or any other tobacco products is actually banned. I initially used to wonder why they will have to anyway sell it to the people in spite of knowing that it is bad for health. The same happens with Liquor as well. We even used to say this in a funny way that in Tamilnadu, Liquor is a business run by government and education sector is run by private bodies. Even though the government knows that it is harmful to health, they still continue to sell it and in the case of smoking, we don't really have commercials but indirectly there are advertisements everywhere that promotes smoking.
People need a hang over
There are several reasons why Tobacco is still a business for many people and even starting from small shops to bigger shows are highly dependent on tobacco as their business. When there are good things in a community, there will also be bad things available in the community. Good people will usually pick good things and do it and bad people will be highly curious to explore bad things. We can be quite happy that people in our locality are not directly exposed to other drugs that creates extreme hang over. More than the hook up part many people here smoke just for the sake of show off. That is purely because of the pollution that has happened from the movies. The movies have depicted in such a way that a great hero or Villan in the move will be terrific only when they smoke a cigarette.
When the government is asked about liquor business, they say that it is one of the high income source for the government. Every individual who is working in a hard job that involves lots of physical works will need a hang over to forget their body pain. Government says that, it is the reason why they have made drinking legal in the state. Another reason given by the government is that if they don't provide the right drinks to the people, they will end up preparing it by themselves and spoil their health. And that is why they are providing it as a service for cheaper prizes. When people are drinking they are obviously fond of smoking as well. So, smoking is a habit that buddies along with drinking habit for some people.
Government just cannot ban tobacco
We are thinking it in a good for people perspective but a major source of income for the government is through liquor business and tobacco business. Though the government is not directly involved in tobacco business, they get a great tax from all these tobacco products that several companies sell. Smokers are least bothered about the amount they pay to buy a cigarette. The maximum that a government can do is to ban smoking in public zones and make them smoke in private zones. Some government is actually fond of increasing the sales of these tobacco products to get some additional income. That is the reason why they show lots of advertisements and commercials. There are some movie theaters where there is an advertisement shown to showcase the harmful effects of smoking. That itself is something that people choose to ignore.
Considering the income that government get from tobacco and liquor business, they are least bothered about banning selling of tobacco in the state. I don't think there are any places in India where tobacco is banned. Another reason why this is not being banned is because when it is not available in the market for purchase, people will start growing their own weed plants in their house and start creating things that will hook them up. It will be not very easy to control for the government. And that is the reason why they have legalized tobacco product sales in the market with some regulations imposed.
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