Cigarette advertisements undermine and deflect smokers' concerns about safety, and serve to reassure smokers or potential smokers that cigarettes are not harmful. Many people do not take the risks of smoking seriously partly because advertising portrays smoking as innocent and benign. Tobacco companies claim that they should have the freedom to advertise their products. However, most smokers begin smoking when they are too young to understand the risks, and by the time they are old enough to make an informed choice, their addiction undermines their freedom of choice. When unfair and untruthful commercial speech is not restricted, other important freedoms are placed in jeopardy, including children's freedom from deception, misrepresentation, and psychological manipulation by advertising.
Product placement is another means of increasing the social acceptability of smoking.
Tobacco companies pay large sums of money to film companies so that their cigarettes will be used in feature films. Product placement payment can also influence script writing decisions. As more countries around the world move to ban tobacco advertising, tobacco companies are quick to divert their attention to the sponsoring of sports and cultural events. This gives them an ideal opportunity to reach large audiences of young people. In addition to cleverly circumventing tobacco advertising bans, companies attempt to use these events to improve their image.