Marketing Management - Smoking Habits

Running head: MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Marketing management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Topic: 1
Increase in the popularity of smoking habits is one of the major challenges in the recent
time and it got amplified with the introduction of the social media networks. This is due to the
reason that tobacco companies are banned from advertising their products in any public forums
and in any conventional mediums. This was a good strategy until the emergence of social media
in the market. This is due to the reason that flow of information cannot be restricted in the social
media and the tobacco companies are leveraging on these advantages. In the article, it is stated
that leveraging on the lack of regulations in the social mediums, tobacco companies are
extensively promoting their smoking products and majorly attracting the young generations
(Agaku & Ayo-Yusuf, 2014). It is also stated that with the more focus on the young generations,
the risks of smoking addiction among these generations are also getting increased. Another issue
of promoting the tobacco products through the social media is the exposure of the younger ages.
This is due to the reason that even though the social media accounts cannot be opened below the
18 years of age but still there are number of users aged below 18 are using social media. Hence,
they are at the constant risks of getting exposed to the smoking addiction (Pierce et al., 2017).
The issues illustrated in the article are important because with the increase in smoking
trend among the younger generation, the probability of health issues is getting increased. It is a
well known and cited fact that smoking is injurious to health and can cause cancer. Thus
extensive promotion of the tobacco products through the social media is increasing the risks and
so it is important to discuss about these issues. This article has highlighted these issues in broad
manner. Apart from these social factors, these issues are also important in terms of legal factors
as well. This is due to the reason that regulations and legislations should be changed according to
the recent situation (Portnoy et al., 2014). The discussion of these issues in the article denotes the

2MARKETING MANAGEMENT
loopholes in the existing legislations by different governments in terms of regulating the tobacco
companies. Hence, it is important to discuss about these issues and mitigate the current legal
loopholes. The discussion in this article also denotes the importance of regulating the social
mediums as well and curbs the promotional activities of the tobacco companies. The process of
attracting the young people by the tobacco companies is also discussed in this report and it is
controversial as well (Clattenburg, Elf & Apelberg, 2013). This is due to the fact that in the
article, it is stated about how the young people are being greeted in different parties organized by
the tobacco companies and they are encouraged in taking up smoking as a lifestyle element. This
is not only increasing the smoking trends among the young population, but also attracting them
towards unethical lifestyles.
From the marketing perspectives, there will be major implications of these identified
issues. One of the major implications will be positive and will help in increasing the potential
customer base. This is due to the reason that social media penetration across the world is huge
and the maximum portions of the young generations are hooked to the social media. Thus,
without the regulations and legislations, the tobacco companies are gaining the opportunities of
tapping the large number of markets. However, on the other hand, the major negative implication
will be the emergence of unethical business principles. This is due to the reason that even though
the social media is exempted from the control regulations and legislations but the tobacco
companies are banned for any types of public promotion, which is clearly violated in this case.
Topic: 2
Sustainability is one of the major factors to be considered in gaining competitive
advantages in the market. However, till a point of time, it was communicated that sustainable