My understanding is that the case alleges that the marketing of light cigarettes is deceptive because smokers are led to believe that light brands are somewhat safer than regular brands. While I loathe the industry for the addictive poison it sells, I have a hard time believing any person thinks that light cigarettes aren't quite so dangerous. Does anyone really NOT understand that smoking cigarettes of ANY kind will damage their health and shorten their lives? That's kind of like saying that drinking gasoline is not as dangerous as drinking drain cleaner. Even if it's true, it's not a meaningful distinction. I fear this decision may be little more than a "bailout" for those attorneys who specialize in class action lawsuits. Still, it couldn't happen to a nicer industry: they truly deserve to go bankrupt.

When I was a smoker I could tell the difference in taste between a regular and a light. In my young age I knew that both were harmful. However, the taste alone was somewhat convincing that lights were somehow not "as bad", as they didn't taste nearly as strong and didn't darken the filter as much. The name, marketing, and most importantly the product is deceptive to the foundations of a persons innate decision-making process. Big tobacco probably sets up a contrast between lights and regular cigarettes and, their respective, flavor and image with this deception in mind. Knowing that subliminal marketing is illegal, shouldn’t subliminal trickery of a consumer’s informed decision-making ability also be illegal? I recently learned of a book that discusses marketing approaches, including subliminal marketing. It is called: Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom. P.S. For that last 6.5 years I have been free from smoking. This will soon trump the 7.5 years that I did.

Surveys consistently find that 80%-90% of smokers and the public inaccurately believe that light cigarette brands are less hazardous than other cigarettes, which also explains why light and ultralight brands comprise about half of all cigarettes sold in the US. Light and ultralight cigarette brand descriptors should be removed from the market, and smokers truthfully informed that all cigarettes are equally harmful. These class action lawsuits will help achieve that goal.

It's about time we (society) have wised up to the practices used by big tobacco. We pay them well to come up with tactics to attract, and addict new smokers. We can just as easily shut them down by learning more about how they really work. Something else the tobacco industry knows that they will never tell you. That group of 14-24 year older smokers, (Those between 14-18 can't legally use tobacco), if we can keep that group of teens from buying tobacco, the industry would literally go out of business. Try it. Tell every teen you know to stop buying tobacco. See what happens. It would be great to see this industry die the way we've seen them kill so many.