Philip Morris is doing its best to drum up business in an increasingly anti-smoking society. And with recent promotions at local bars and clubs, college students are forking over their personal information to the tobacco giant in exchange for a chance to win a free trip. Whether this trade-off is morally acceptable depends on one’s ethical view of smoking. But what is not up for debate is the fact that students who are willing to give out their private information have every right to do so — no matter how unwise the choice may appear.
Marlboro representatives ask 21-and-over bar hoppers if they are willing to give a copy of their driver’s licenses to the company. In exchange, the Philip Morris “cowboys” try to wrangle up interest in free trips to one of three Marlboro ranches in the West. The tobacco company then uses the information at its discretion and sends a sundry of promotional materials to the address printed on the license. No one is coerced into making a copy, so why not let consenting adults distribute their private information if they so please?
Those who make the exchange will likely be barraged with piles of promotional mail for the rest of their natural-born lives. But college students have the upper hand on this potential headache and could easily avoid the junk mail by packing up and moving — as many of us do annually. Students with their parents’ addresses printed on their licenses are really at an advantage, because the junk could simply fill their mom and dads’ mailboxes instead.
No one honestly knows what Philip Morris will do with the personal information, but the practice is legal, and those who are willing to volunteer personal data should be able to without being chided. Revealing private information is a choice, just like lighting up. Adults agree to the exchange at the risk of forfeiting their privacy, and that’s a choice they’ll have to live with.