I agree with you that marketing has been cleverly utilized to pursuade the audience one way or another regarding these substances.Cigarettes are the villan in black. They are going to kill you, there are commercials out there showing how bad it is, youre forced to stand outside in a corner in order to do it. while coke has a nice cute polar bear, santa claus, share a coke with the world, have a coke and a smile.
Well, certainly everyone has to draw their own line in a gray area like this... To me, there is convincing evidence that cigarettes/tobacco products are way more harmful to one's health then soda, so that's why I have no problem drawing my own line in regards to this situation.I dont think there is a big enough difference in the two to say "its ok to tax this but not this". soda does cause health problems just like cigarettes. soda is just addictive too just like cigarettes. it shouldnt matter to what degree the addiction and negative side effects are. bad is bad whether you are shooting yourself in the head or slowly dying.