In mass production (as in almost any business endeavor), products must be sold “upward” — i.e., the whole process is conducted in an economic paradigm where those who make a product are selling it to customers who are wealthier than them. In mass production, products are often sold downward, where those who make a product are selling it to customers who are poorer than them, such as selling rubber bands, bubble gum, and pencils by the millions to schoolkids with little to no money.
Cigarettes, alcohol, and a thousands of other items follow the same model.
1. Most of what is “sold to schoolchildren by the millions” is actually sold to SCHOOLS, not the students. That reinforces my point that the real customer for more and more domestic production is the government, not individual consumers.
2. Your point about alcohol and tobacco is a good one, but addictive vices are not necessarily going to abide by conventional economic forces.