ARGUMENTATIVE ARTICLE

Let's Realize The Futility of Smoking

Smoking is everyone's right. Are you including those who agree with the statement? I admit, that wasn't absolutely wrong. Frankly, I do not want to care about smokers anymore, because the more attention they get the more insolent they are. I am just worried about the cigarette industry which is increasingly aggressively targeting children and adolescents in Indonesia. Unfortunately, people seem to turn a blind eye to this problem. When anti-smoking activists or government agents campaign to protect children and teenagers from cigarettes, they immediately get a loud shout in the form of 'ridicule'. The cigarette industry is indeed clever because it takes the hearts of the people, enough to provide educational scholarships, sports sponsorships, social services, and etc. That is the amazing marketing strategy of the cigarette industry so that there are no smokers who quit, and even continue to look for new seeds among children and adolescents. No wonder if the cigarette chain is never broken. So from that, let's realize how futile it is to smoke by knowing the facts behind the cigarette industry.

First, let's talk about the benefits that have been achieved by the cigarette industries in Indonesia. Based on Gudang Garam's Financial Report in 2018, the amiten with the GGRM stock code, gained exposure of 95.71 trillion rupiah and get profit of 7.79 trillion rupiah. Meanwhile, in 2018 Sampoerna received 106.74 trillion rupiah in revenue. So, they get profit of 13.54 trillion rupiah. These benefits do not include calculations from other cigarette companies, like Djarum, Bentoel, and other small and medium-class cigarette companies. We can estimate the total revenue of the entire cigarette industry in this country to reach 400 trillion rupiah per year, if it refers to the combination of Gudang Garam and Sampoerna has reached 200 trillion rupiah. Imagine, every year Indonesia can spend 400 trillion rupiah and be burned just like that. Cigarettes are more important than milk, nutritional intake, and children's education costs. Don't ask about 'alms', it seems that now they prefer to give cigarettes as alms.

Cigarette entrepreneurs became the first richest person in Indonesia

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Next, in addition to cigarette companies making fantastic profits every year, they also do not need to bother defending themselves against whatever attacks them. They are quite silent, watching thousands of cadres of smokers out there ready to defend. Smokers cadres feel that cigarette companies are heroes for their lives. They have various reasons ranging from the logic that the existence of cigarettes has defended tobacco farmers. Even though the fact is that half of the tobacco is imported from abroad. They also often mention the fate of cigarette workers who live from cigarette production. Though the machines have replaced tens of thousands of cigarette workers. Cigarette workers were fired, replaced by machines. Finally, they also often postulate that cigarette excise tax is used for BPJS. They forget if the disease caused by smoking is what actually makes the health costs swell. This clever marketing strategy has made many people unaware that millions of Indonesian children and adolescents are at risk of becoming smokers at an early age.

Indonesia, a country with a population of 260 million, is a very lucrative market as a paradise for the cigarette business. Especially in developed countries like the United States and Europe, the cigarette industry has long been removed. There, no teenager can buy cigarettes. For example in New York, the minimum limit for buying cigarettes is 21 years. Cigarette sellers have the right to ask for the identity of the cigarette buyer to ensure that his age meets In developed countries, the price of cigarettes is very expensive and the regulations are very strict. They are pinning cigarette companies from all sides, because they realize how terrible the danger will be. Then it's time we really realize there is no good effect of cigarettes with any logic and argument. Even if there were, it was only a little camouflage behind the terrible danger monster of cigarettes. Therefore, we should love ourselves by avoiding and leaving cigarettes starting from ourselves and family.