Deaths caused by smoking have reached epidemic proportions. In the United States alone, 430,000 people die each year from smoking-related diseases, such as cancer and lung disease. Stephen Jay, chair of the Department of Public Health at Indiana University School of Medicine, says that “the cost of tobacco in human terms far exceeds the Black Death of the 14th century, the global influenza pandemic of 1918-19 and the modern tragedy of HIV-AIDS.” Health care advocates, concerned about tobacco-related deaths and illnesses, have worked tirelessly to discourage cigarette smoking in the United States through educational campaigns that warn the public about the potential health dangers of tobacco use. A particular target of these anti-smoking messages is adolescent smokers. According to 2001 data collected by the American Cancer Society, smoking rates among adolescents have gradually declined after their rapid rise throughout the 1980s and much of the 1990s. Despite this encouraging decrease in the number of teen smokers, approximately three thousand teens still start smoking every day. One third of these adolescents will die prematurely from a smoking-related disease. A hotly debated issue in the effort to prevent smoking among adolescents is the role that tobacco industry advertisements play in influencing adolescents' decisions to start smoking. Health professionals see the tobacco industry – often referred to as “Big Tobacco” – as a wealthy, adversarial force to be reckoned with. In 2002, for example, the United States spent approximately $800 million on various tobacco control initiatives, including anti-smoking campaigns aimed at adolescent smokers. Big Tobacco, however, spent nearly $8 billion on tobacco marketing. Such aggressive tobacco marketing is worrisome to those who work... middle of paper... if specified reductions in underage tobacco use are not achieved. After the agreement and the subsequent ban on advertising tobacco products among young people, many anti-smoking groups today argue that Big Tobacco still continues to promote smoking among teenagers and children through sponsorship of sporting events and concerts, advertising in magazines aimed at eighteen-twenty-four year olds, but are often read by younger readers and product placements in films are rated as low as "G" for young viewers. Other anti-smoking advocates, however, argue that the role of cigarette advertising in influencing teen smokers has been overstated and that anti-smoking campaigns should instead focus on other factors that encourage smoking among teens, such as the influence of peers or parents..