Project statement:

   I chose to use this as my topic because its something that I have been around my entire life. Cigarettes are extremely popular from youth all the way to the elderly. As someone who has smoked cigarettes plenty of times, but has never fallen victim to their addictive qualities I have always had a very large indifference with cigarettes and never quite could understand them. I have always been interested in the idea of people spending so much money on something like this and they have been around for decades, never really losing their popularity despite plenty of people fighting against them. Not only are cigarettes extremely popular and present in todays economy, but also in the media. From commercials to movies cigarettes are widely used and talked about.

   Cigarettes addictiveness has kept people spending tons of money just to get their fix. Some people would refer to this as a “legal drug” and in reality this is true. When it comes to globalization and the economy cigarettes are a worldwide favorite. Cigarettes were traded heavily by the europeans and when the industrial revolution arrived they became even more popular. This lasted for a long time where plenty of people were constantly smoking, until the 1900s arrived with more scientific advances that taught people about the dangerous qualities of cigarettes, however this was not enough to end the era of cigarettes and they are still sold and used everywhere to this day.

   Cigarettes also made it into the music industry. Widely song about in all genres of music. Cigarettes are known as a national symbol for coolness and people associated with being cool usually smoke cigarettes whether its characters in film or actual celebrities all the way to your local high school cool kids and frat boys.

"The history of Tobacco ." . Boston University Medical Center, n.d. Web. 9 May 2013. <http://academic.udayton.edu/health/syllabi/tobacco/history.htm>.

   This site has a good amount of information for the more history related aspects of Tobacco which can help me trace globalization to some of its earlier days. I will be able to get some of the details from its launch into the trade.