For and against essay "Advertising of dangerous products"

In many countries, advertising of dangerous products like cigarettes and alcohol spreads everywhere - in mass media, pop-up advertisements in the streets, hidden advertisements on TV and so on. Doctors vote for a total ban on smoking and drinking beer or alcohol in public places to cut deaths from lung cancer and heart diseases, but many people think it is difficult to force people to stop doing what they got used to doing if they don’t want to. I will discuss both points of view and express my opinion.

Doctors and psychologists argue that advertisements of such dangerous products like cigarettes and alcohol in mass media and in the streets influence on young people most of all. Hidden advertisement in films is often used to advertise cigarettes and alcohol drinks which also influences on people. They began thinking that it is a norm of behaviour. Doctors claim that treating people with smoking-related illnesses and alcoholism costs millions of dollars a year. They say that passive smoking harms people and increases the risk of lung cancer and heart disease. So, they want all kinds of advertisement of cigarettes and alcohol to be outlaw.

On the other side of the argument, many people nowadays think that everyone should have the right to choose whether they smoke, drink alcohol or not. They believe that banning smoking and drinking would only force people to smoke and drink in secret.

In my opinion, there should be a complete ban on the advertising of cigarettes and alcohol as it may save millions of people’s lives.