Hank Investigates: Smokers in Training

Grade School Student
"Oh, I love cigarettes."

Here's a sight to send a chill down any parents spine. Peggy is in third grade, but take a closer look, Peggy isn't "smoking" a real cigarette, it's candy. The candy's packaging, however, is remarkably similar to real cigarettes -- the shape, the logos, cellophane wrapper, even a fake tax stamp. And kids recognize it.

Hank
"What did you think they were?"

Kids
"They were cigarettes!"

But will pretend puffing eventually lead to real puffing? Some experts say yes.

Danny McGoldrick, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
"It's ridiculous to sell a product to kids that teaches them a behavior we know is deadly."

Those, who make what they call candy "stix", have said there's no relationship between these and using real cigarettes. But do kids just eat them like candy or pretend to smoke them like cigarettes?

To find out we purchased candy cigarettes at various local stores, then took them to schools. We set up three cameras and put out an assortment of the cigarette-looking packages -- some containing bubble gum wrapped in white paper with a little brown tip, some with chocolate wrapped in white and some red-tipped sugar sticks.

Teacher
"O.K. kids come in."

Kids came in groups at a time and while we watched, with big cameras rolling, they seemed curious, even apprehensive.

Grade School Student
"I'm not going to touch these they look scary."

They whispered. They conferred.

Grade School Student
"Are you sure this is candy?"

And eventually some just chomped on the candy… and others played with it. But for another group we hid one camera between books and put another behind a screen. We put out the packages, and then we hid, too.

Watch what happens when eight and nine-year-olds think no one is looking.

Grade School Student
"I love cigarettes."

Look at their attitude, their posture. They puff, they pose. They apparently know just what to do. If these shots surprise you -- they're just what Pediatrician Jonathan Klein expected.

Jonathan Klein, MD, University of Rochester
"Having cigarette toys allows children to play at smoking."

Klein's published research on the relationship between kids and candy cigarettes and found where there's pretend smoke -- you may be playing with fire.

Klein
"In fact we found children, who had used and teenagers who had used candy cigs, were almost twice as likely to have also started smoking tobacco cigarettes."

And what's more, these letters between tobacco and candy companies we obtained show in the 1950's, there was clear collusion. One candy maker asking to use a tobacco company logo refers to "the coming-up cigarette smokers" and promises "this free advertising will not cost you a cent."

Brown and Williamson replies, "We have no objection..."

Today, with the tobacco settlement prohibiting marketing cigarettes to kids, the company says things have changed.

Mark Smith, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.
"There's no doubt about it, here were some dumb things that were done in the past."

Court records we obtained do show that by the ‘80s cigarette companies severed their ties with candy makers. The result: there are no more candy replicas of Marlboros or Camels. Now, Some packs have pictures of rockets and dinosaurs. But still, compare this real package of Lucky Strikes with these candy "Targets" we bought, here's a real pack of Pall Malls -- we found these candy "Kings."

Hank
"How can they get away with making packages that look like this when your cigarettes look like this?"

Mark Smith, Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp.
"We'll be communicating with these firms, these manufacturers and let them know in no uncertain terms this is totally inappropriate."

Question is why would a candy company still make a product that looks like a cigarette? No manufacturer of these products returned our e-mails and calls. Every child we talked to had clearly been warned about the dangers of smoking.

Grade School Student
"It will make my lungs bad."

Grade School Student
"You could die."

But if you think your kids would never even pretend to smoke, listen to what one divulged when we asked why they didn't pretend to puff.

Hank
"Did it cross your mind to do that?"

Student
"It did cross my mind, but I didn't do it because I was on TV."

We have learned the World Health Organization is now focusing on candy cigarettes. That United Nations sponsored agency is calling for a world-wide ban on manufacture and sale of any candy that is shaped like cigarettes.