Tobacco Co. and paintball

[Lohman446]

I should have made myself clear. When you take a sponsorship from a tobacco company (or any other drug that is not legal for some people to take this doesnt include tylenol, asprin, etc.) then young children will see it and even if they dont realize it, they may start smoking just because thats what the pro's use.

You take sponsorship
sponsors stick their names in big letters on your gear
young kids see this gear
young kids start using what the see the pro's using

(not sur eif this made a whole lot of sense, if not please just ignore it)

How? Its not legal for them to smoke, regardless of if they want to or not. If they do start smoking we need to look at how they are breaking the law rather than why.

[TheTramp]

I think the point is more: Why encourage them to break the law thus giving society more work enforcing it?

[Lohman446]

I think the point is more: Why encourage them to break the law thus giving society more work enforcing it?

Because.. its not my job to make decisions for them, nor is me wearing something from a tobacco company forcing them to smoke. I would like to think that young Americans today are not that stupid or weak willed.

[TheTramp]

I would like to think that young Americans today are not that stupid or weak willed.

But you know that that isn't true.

It will be your/our problem when tax dollars pay for the concequences of that encouragment.

On the other hand the same could be said for a beer sponsorship and I tried contacting Guinness for one....still haven't heard back though

[Lohman446]

But you know that that isn't true.

It will be your/our problem when tax dollars pay for the concequences of that encouragment.

On the other hand the same could be said for a beer sponsorship and I tried contacting Guinness for one....still haven't heard back though

LMAO - my team captain has contacted Budweiser actually...

[slade]

I should have made myself clear. When you take a sponsorship from a tobacco company (or any other drug that is not legal for some people to take this doesnt include tylenol, asprin, etc.) then young children will see it and even if they dont realize it, they may start smoking just because thats what the pro's use.

You take sponsorship
sponsors stick their names in big letters on your gear
young kids see this gear
young kids start using what the see the pro's using

i dont buy it. of course sponsorship makes sense inside the industry. a young paintballer sees a pro team using a timmy or dm4, and he associates that marker with his success... rightly so. the marker certainly does make a difference. im sure if the same kid saw a sponsored team using talons, he wouldnt associate their winning with talons. if anything, he would just respect the team for rolling everyone with a $20 plastic pump. kids arent idiots, they can make judgements. a kid will realize what a sponsorship is, and will associate what is involved in success, such as equipment, with their success. no kid is stupid enough to think a team wins games because they smoke.

the only thing outside industry sponsorship will do is aid in name recognition. if a kid chooses to smoke, he may choose marlboro due to the name recognition from seeing it advertized so much as opposed to, say... damn, i cant think of any other brands, ive seen marlboro advertized so much get my point?

the same thing happens with inside the industry sponsorship too on a certain level. along with associating a marker with a team's success, a kid may recall seeing a brand name somewhere - in a banner, on a sticker, or recall seeing the marker itself, and therefore purchase that product instead of one whos name they have never heard before. there are multiple reasons for sponsorship.

for the same reason, when a large company like a car company buys up other companies, they often keep the brand names alive. assimilating to a single brand name will destroy the name recognition, and following.

in fact, i think that i would be more offended if i were approached by a soft drink company or major fast food chain. they are the real danger to little kiddies. same goes for videogame manufacturers. you combine those three giant industries with our kid's and the general lack of good firm parenting that this country seems to be experiencing and what do you get? you get fat kids who later in life will be at serious risk for diabetes, heart related illness, gastrointestinal problems, joint problems, morbid obesity, comlpete and utter rejection by the opposite sex, and the embasrrassment of having to be removed from your own home with a surgical forklift. with the staggeringly idiotic ammounts of high fructose corn syrup and cholesterol that kids are getting from soft drinks and fast food coupled with the fact that many of them just sit around and play videogames, i'd say that smoking is the least of their problems.

i understand soft drinks and fast food chains, but why pick on videogames? videogames have been proven to aid greatly in logical thinking and helps students in school. researchers have found it hard to find a child good at videogames and bad at school. and i know plenty of kids that love videogames and yet are still very active and in shape. if i were to pick on something which makes kids less active, i would choose TV since it has no redeeming qualities that i know of. or, actually homework... although that does have some redeeming qualities it still limits free time and thus activity.

btw, i havent played a video game for about a year. well, with the exception of halo when my cousin wanted to play with me.

[siloseven]

this is defonatly a good topic; kudos.

I am a soon to be former smoker and agree with most every one here. if they want to spot every thing assuming they do not tell me what to do, and I have full right to tell why I quit and why it was not a good idea. I am good to go.

and like someone said about the kids. I am not sure it is 100% correct to say the kids will see a PSP/NPPL/ what ever team with a big tobacco sponcer will think it is cool. I know a few "pro"players that do not have a tobacco sponcer ad they smoke heavly at every tourni. whats the differeance? and my big thing is, at some point PARENTS have to take full responcability for what they have created and teach them about the world and its up and downs ect.

[Chris_automag_07]

i would not, simply for the reason that younger or newer players look up to and sometimes even respect the older more experienced players(even if it takes a couple of games) but the point is they think we are cool and try to immitate us, and if you have tobacco brands stamped all over your gear kids are gonna start to think "hhmmm smoking must be cool" and that doesnt exacty take the sport in the right direction(no offense to the smokers in the group)
but i dont believe that tobacco products could possibly improve your level of play. and i dont think that it is a good vibe to be sending out to younger players or newbs if you may.

thats all, disagree if you like.

[SIGSays]

i would... if cigs were included.. haha.. but i mean little kids? they know the law.. 18...

[68magOwner]

absolutely (no, i dont smoke, nor does anyone else on the team, so, not gonna be reppin their product well), but, hey, if everythign is free, ids do it

[Cameo]

lung canser eh? thats teh sux... but lets not blame the smokes.... and if you do.... you better live in a bubble for the rest of your life, dont drive, stay off the roads all togeather in any form of modern transportation....

Untill we have some perfect, fool poof mode of transportation that doesnt allow accdents to happen... There will be more deaths caused by car/transportation accdents then from smoke inhalation indused canser.....

i don't have lung cancer no... Totally different kind all together... But i see so many when I am at the center.. it just saddnes me.. they keep coughing and coughing and seem so miserable.

[Carbon]

Let me reiterrate. As we all know that children in general do not have the mental facilities to make the right decisions, simply because, well...they cant. Their brains have not fully developed yet.

Just understand that advertising has compounding effect, especially over time. And this is in fact magnfied in a niche environment. Consider a child sees x product advertised for a span of 9 years, that is 16 to 24 years old. I would say 6 or 7 of those years comprise of some of the most impressionable years in a childs life.

You have to factor that a niche activity like paintball is focused at a youth group, and the outlet of this advertising is very limited to mostly a handfull of magazines and pictures on the internet. As limited as the media outlets are, currently, these are an optimal medium for presentation.

I hope most of you recognize that this is more of an ethical question than one of technical legal statutes.

[Chris_automag_07]

Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Mechanicsburg
Posts: 3,091
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i would... if cigs were included.. haha.. but i mean little kids? they know the law.. 18..


yeah cause lids always care about the law dont they.........oh wait a second, looking "cool"
is more important isnt it.

[xmetal2001]

If they want to spend money to let me play paintball, I have no problem with that at all...

Besides, let's be honest, how many people are going to take up smoking because they saw a little logo on my jersey.

[athomas]

As was mentioned before, its brand and product recognition. If there were no advertisements allowed for a product, then it isn't in the public eye and becomes less recognizable to the general consumer. Out of sight, out of mind. Any advertisement for a product or brand gives credibility for that product. Is it right for us to give credibility to a dangerous and addictive product?