RESOURCE FILES

Chapter 10

The Architecture of Stratification: Social Class and Inequality

The Global Tobacco Epidemic

When sales at home lag, multinationals are likely to turn to the foreign marketplace to boost sales. Consider the production and sale of cigarettes. In many developing countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, tobacco use has increased dramatically over the past two decades, especially among young people and women.

In China, for example, per capita consumption of cigarettes increased 260% between the early 1970s and the early 1990s. Over 70% of Chinese men are regular smokers. ¹ At least 100 million Chinese men now 29 years old and younger will eventually die from tobacco use. ²

In the 1970s, the countries with the highest rate of adult cigarette consumption were Canada, Switzerland, Australia, and Great Britain. By the end of the 20th century, smoking was highest in Poland, Greece, Hungary, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. In the 2000s, 70% of the world's cigarettes will be smoked in developing ­countries.

Not surprisingly, U.S. tobacco companies have devoted substantial marketing attention abroad. In the developing countries of the world, the U.S. cigarette has become a coveted symbol of affluence and sophistication. And U.S. companies are not bashful about exploiting this lucrative market:

• In Taiwan, teenagers are offered free admission to a popular disco for five empty packs of Winstons.
• In Malaysia, where all tobacco advertising is banned, "cigarette girls" hand out free Salems to concert goers.
• On the streets of Manila, "jump boys" as young as 10 hop in and out of traffic selling Marlboros and Lucky Strikes to passing motorists.
• In the discos and coffee shops of Seoul, young Koreans light up U.S. brands that, a decade ago, were illegal to possess.
• Downtown Kiev has become the Ukrainian version of Marlboro Country, with the gray cityscape punctuated with colorful billboards of Western sunsets and chiseled cowboy faces.

In part, multinational corporations are successful in developing countries because the regulatory systems are relatively weak. But the tobacco companies are also players in an institutional structure that will help to maintain global stratification. Higher smoking rates inevitably mean higher disease rates, which will retard economic development in these countries.

¹ Rosenthal, E., & Altman, L. 1998, November 20. China, a land of heavy smokers, looks into abyss of fatal illness. New York Times.

² World Health Organization. 1999. Tobacco—health facts (Fact sheet #221) and Tobacco dependence (Fact sheet #222). www.who.int/inf-fs/en. Accessed June 16, 2003.