Tobacco Co. and paintball

[Lohman446]

Well, I don't really know. It's peer pressure that counts the most, by far. None of my peers are teenagers anymore... :rofl:

Yeh... my peers tend to get me into a lot more trouble and expense than tobacco Teenage peers would be cheap comparatively

[Automaggot68]

Yes, I would.
I would play plaintball, and I wouldn't worry about paying for it anymore, if I was given a free ride.
I would wear their patch or emblem/logo on my arm, my back or chest.
Would it be bigger than my Logic Paintball Logo? my AGD logo?
No, it wouldn't.
I dont care who pays for me to play.
Saying the above is going to leave it pretty open, and I really dont care.
If I was required to get people to smoke, give out cigs, it's be a comepletely different story. I woudln't do that--I'm not a total whore.
What they do is none of my concern, I live with a smoker, I've lived with a smoker my entire life thus far.
I was once a smoker. Did I like it?
It got old, fast.
Look at those NASCAR races, do people ALWAYs think, OMG SMOKES ANDBREWDIZOGGS!? when you say Nascar?
I think of fast cars.
I have no idea where this was leading.

I'll leave it with what TMAXXKING was saying,
---Thats life kiddies.

[slade]

You're argument gets weaker and weaker the more you attempt to defend it or elaborate. While it may be a wonderful personal choice what you are now insinuating is that all role models should be perfectly acceptable to every parent. And yes, it is ok for a child to look up to someone even though there are flaws in them - as long as the child is well educated on the effects of decisions they made. And yes, children are very well educated, judging by todays ad campaigns if children are as gullible as you make out, they must think that the cigs are hidden so that they don't look at them, because looking at them can cause death...

exactly. a person doesnt have to be perfect and have every attribute of them be acceptable for them to be a role model. if a kid looks up to a professional paintballer they are going to look at them as a paintballer instead of trying to mimic their every move. a kid should be smart enough to know what is good about someone, and what is not.

Martin Luther King cheated on his wife. how many thousands of 6-10 year old children have been told that he is a wonderful person and to look up to and respect him? will every child think that cheating on your wife/husband is the right thing to do?

In most teenagers the pressure to fit in is almost overwhelming. Add to that the belief that they are invincible and what's to stop them from trying it?

i laughed.

my friends range from a girl who calls her mom at a party to tell her that there is alcohol there, and to ask if she should leave or stay, to a drug dealer, to a girl who has tried just about every drug i could think of besides LSD, and lost her virginity when she was 12 or 13. there is no pressure whatsoever to conform or fit in with them. i dont care what they choose, they dont care what i choose.

*looks at watch* 40 minutes ago i had a short conversation with a friend of a friend, who i saw in the hall.
him: do you have a cellphone?
me: yeah, here
him: thanks... do you have a cigarette by any chance?
me: no, sorry.
him: you dont smoke?
me: no
him: cool. damn it! i really want a cigarette.


and... whats this about teenagers thinking they are invincible??


oh, and by the way... the drug dealer i mentioned, tells everyone who doesnt do drugs yet to not try them.

[Target Practice]

oh, and by the way... the drug dealer i mentioned, tells everyone who doesnt do drugs yet to not try them.

Gee, then maybe that worthless bastard shouldn't peddle the damn things, now should he?

[fcpchop]

Yea but you'll be promoting it to little kids, it will work out like this. Little Timmy sees pro PSP team with tobacco sponsor, he thinks smoking is now cool. He'll start to smoke now and probably get his little friends into it to. You won't be very popular with the parents.
Or you'll be at a local tourny and be advertising it to even more little kids.
I would never accept a tobacco sponsor.

Ok now thats a load of crap. Growing up as a young kid I saw many many tobacco ads. So what everyone sees them. I saw them all over the place and if I saw them at a paintball tourny it would still make no difference. I don't smoke and never will smoke tabacoo. Kids aren't stupid, just because Timmy sees the ad on a pro team doesn't mean he will try it. He would be smart about it, and besides by now hes got so much anti-tobacco stuff jamed down his throat it won't even matter. So don't make stupid assumptions about how kids see things and use it for your argument. Fact of the matter is it is a legal substance... so why not let them sponser you? Just seeing an ad won't kill anyone, and probably won't persuade them to smoke either. And if they do, it's their free choice to do so. If it kills them, they killed themself, Tobacco didn't.

[slade]

Gee, then maybe that worthless bastard shouldn't peddle the damn things, now should he?

did i say he should be?

and btw im using the word friend loosely, he was more of a friend of a lot of my friends, i talked to him sometimes, but also i havent seen him for a while since he got kicked out of our school.

[punkncat]

Yes

I would love for anyone to completly cover my paintball expenses. A Marlboro team outfit would be tight as hell too!!

We have sponsorships. Basically we have quite a few local buisnesses that pitch into the team fund. I don't know them on a personal basis, and really couldn't say what kind of people they are, whether they run a good buisiness or whether they are crooks. (if any of you are reading this, y'all are all GREAT...lol) By playing with their name on our banner means they are donating "considerations" towards our ability to play as a competitive team. It doesn't mean that we specifically back them so to speak, but we are an avenue of advertisement for them. In that respect I suppose we support them?

Meh, aside from all the political crap associated with the subject of tobacco, or any other "drug"...I agree with what has already been said. Don't be a sheep and follow your own freewill. Someone, ANYONE that would like to support my worse than drugs addiction to paintball is welcome. I would slap on a Tampax logo if they were footing the bill, and I would be playing with a big smile.

[slade]

I would slap on a Tampax logo if they were footing the bill, and I would be playing with a big smile.

that is awesome. it is now my goal to get sponsored by tampax.

(please dont kick me off the team for that guys... )

[etjoyride]

Knee jerk simplistic reaction with wording designed for maximum reaction without consideration of what they really mean. What about Bayer Aspirin / Tylenol etc., would you accept a sponsorship from them?

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)

[Cameo]

I bounced back and forth on this one while I was reading other's posts..... I am leaning more twards the "no" just because I have kids and I would want to keep the good example for them. Also I do no play enough paintball for it to be a hinderance finacially. It is a great sport, but there are other things in life.
I think having seen so many people at the Cancer Center who are there because of the choices they made in thier lives has something to do with my "no". It is sad to watch these people suffer for something that once brought them "comfort", or just one hit will calm thier nerves...It is a bit upsetting. I am getting off topic..
There is a fine line between morlas and personl preferances. I have not yet discovered mine.

[CodeMA]

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.....

Like I said, dont like it? Dont get near the roads in any vehical if your that worried about a personal choice killing you...dont smoke.... dont let your kids smoke, punish them if they do untill there of age in a manner you see fit as you would if say, they were doing something a little more illegal such as pot.... Then let them make there choices for themselves.....

Worry about yourself and those your directly responsible for....if you cant be for them you have no right to try and control the masses who have every right to smoke as long as there not forceing it down some old ladie or infants nasel passages....


Again, Im not a big smoker, or a fan of it the "pack a day" crowd, its a waste of cash to me...and I really dont have time for it..... I do enjoy the occational bummed cig or a good cigar...but its a rare thing....... BUT I will advocate to the end it is there choice...not yours and not big goverments.....

Take the money as if it were any other company and be happy.... As long as your responsible it doesnt matter

[Carbon]

Interesting comments ya'll. Keep it up.

[OneEyedPimp]

I voted no, but in truth I'd love to get money out of "big tobacco," maybe a little pay back for me & my family having to watch my Dad starve to death due to throat & stomach cancer caused by smoking. It sucks that my kids don't know my Dad, the oldest had a few years but my youngest was about ten months old. Personally I despise smoking & I was a smoker for ten plus years. I can't condone its use & don't want it advertised where my kids are participating in sporting events. Someone stated that they dislike the truth company, I can't understand why. Sounds like ignorant bravado to me.
In regard to other drug companies I gotta ask when was the last time Aleve or Tylenol killed someone & how many? Its funny other drugs like bextra & phen phen get pulled off the market after one maybe two people die, shouldn't tobacco?

No. It is a choice, I mean, I fell bad for your father and all, but he made a choice. It is the same a drinking. How many does drinking and driving kill a year? Do we want to outlaw beer? It is the same thing, outlawing beer will not get rid of drunk driving, nor will outlawing smoking stop cancer.

[ultralight]

I'm holding out for enzyte.

the whole team would have to use 16" Stiffis. what a sponsorship combination.


on topic:

yes, i would. even though i am in the process of trying to get my dad to give it up (for the second time in his life).

i would even start playing tournament ball in order to take a sponsorship from a tobacco company. why? free money. and besides, do the marlboro and budweiser ads on racecars upset you? the fact that many children who idolize those drivers are being marketed tobacco alcohol? i can't really speak for the rest of the country but i personally can't remember who is sponsored by what company, and i don't really care. when i watch hockey, i'm not interested in the ads plastered on the boards, i'm watching the game. (had to throw in the hockey thing because i'm excited that it's back and i don't watch racing.)

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.

oh, and Truth is actually funded primarily by big tobacco as the result of a lawsuit. to the best of my knowledge.

now let me tell you how i really feel...

tobacco doesn't kill people, people kill themselves with tobacco.
mcdonalds doesn't make america's youth fat, they eat themselves to death.
xbox will not make you a sloth, you have to willingly play.

while trying to restrict the product may be partially effective in reducing it's use, or misuse. that is the easy (wrong) way to go about it. we can't just shelter our kids from the world and hope for the best once we boot them out into it. we need to educate them about the dangers of this world so that they know enough to make the right decisions on their own.


" Censorship, like charity should start in the home. But unlike charity, it should end there." - ???

well, it was sort of on topic for a little while.

[Carbon]

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.

You do remember when you were a yougin' dont you, how impressionable and open to suggestion you were?