Pennock, Pamela E. Advertising; Sin and Sickness. DeKalb: Northern Illinois UP, 2007. Print.
Throughout the book, Advertising Sin and Sickness, author Pamela E. Pennock displays the changes and past bans in advertising of cigarettes in the previous years. The regulations of tobacco companies’ rights in advertising have shifted over time and have continued to change as the years progress. The regulations of the Family Prevention and Tobacco Control Act are similar to those of previous bills that were ignored by tobacco companies in earlier years. Pennock’s point of view on this issue is not clearly stated, but can be implied by the different human examples she uses to prove her point. Throughout her writing, she uses the ideas of people who were trying to ban advertising of tobacco companies and anti-smoking committees. She continually uses these peoples’ points of view, which shows that she is following and leaning towards their ideas. She does display the ideas of the cigarette companies, but focuses more on the supporters. This book was published before the new law was brought to Congress, but her point of view on past advertising proves that she supports this new law. She states that previous laws tried to control the advertising to the youth in similar ways to the current law. These laws did this by restricting tobacco companies’ rights to advertise in any broadcast that had forty-five percent of their viewers under the age of twenty-one. Pennock states that in the previous laws tobacco companies were trying to fight for their rights to commercial free expression. The author continually talks about the wrongs of the tobacco companies with their misleading labels and advertising that makes cigarettes appeal to teens as cool and attractive. Her overall option of the cigarette companies is based upon their continuous and sneaky actions on disregarding their restrictions that were placed on them over the years. Pennock’s answer to my question is no because of the companies past history in law breaking and she believes they have earned their punishment.
Pamela E. Pennock explains the past history of advertising with tobacco companies in her book. This book does not relate directly to the current event, but the authors point on previous issues relates to the research question. A strength of this source is that the author uses both the thoughts of cigarette companies and the thoughts of the policymakers. This gives my reader a greater variety of information and thoughts of others. This source is a valid one for my reader to use because it shows the history of advertising and the continuous flaws of these companies. This source did a good job at using specific companies when Pennock talked about the flaws and histories of these. Pennock talks about Lorillard Company, which is one of the companies that filed lawsuit against the current law. Using specific examples helps my reader relate and contrast an intelligent answer to my research question. This book is a good source for a reader to read because it displays the past laws and how these companies were and still are trying to find ways around their restrictions.
