[originaltext] Today, around 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced every year

Today, around 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced every year in spite of the fact that tobacco use kills about 5 and a half million people every year, an average of one person every 6 seconds. Much of the industry’s position has not changed on advertising. For example, it still maintains that advertising is not designed to get people to smoke: it’s about getting smokers to switch brands.
    But one has to give them credit for developing electronic cigarettes which are undoubtedly much safer than conventional cigarettes. They will say that that is the future and they are investing a lot of money in it and investing millions in developing e-cigarettes. It has huge potential as a market but it still has to be seen in a context of where the vast majority of their profits will come from over the next many decades.
3 What is the main purpose of the cigarettes’ advertisements?
4 What do we learn about the electronic cigarettes?