The owner of the nation’s largest tobacco company, Philip Morris USA, said Wednesday that this is the first time a U.S. company has sued China based websites for selling counterfeit cigarettes to U.S. consumers.

Richmond, Va. based Altria Group filed the suit in U.S. District Court in California on Monday.

The company says the websites are violating federal law by shipping cigarettes through the mail and infringing on its trademarks. It is asking the court to ban the online retailers from selling the product and turn over profits from the cigarettes, along with punitive damages.

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The marlboro myth

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However, I have some critical thinking toward the Marlboro advertisements. One is that since the Marlboro has strong emphasis on male consumers, if, one day, the company wants to sell cigarettes for female, it will be a big challenge. If they do not want to change their style of advertisements, they may narrow down their consumers. The trite advertisements would not attract people s attention in the future. My another opinion is that no cowboys in the advertisements are smoking. We can think that the cowboys are so powerful and healthy because they do not smoke at all. The cowboy in the advertisement can be the one who gives the Surgeon General’s Warning.

Although the Marlboro cigarette has successfully created its American heroic cowboy myth, people still keep the right to believe or not to believe. No matter what type of the cigarette is, smoking is evidently pernicious. I hope that people can resist the attraction of those false images, and refuse smoking, like a real hero.