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The percentage who smoke has certainly declined over the years, but anti smoking ads are just one factor. More important are restrictions on where it is allowed and large increases in taxes. Government at all levels has targeted cigarette taxes for revenue. The message is "cigarette smoking is dangerous for your wealth."
Smoking costs us tens of billions of dollars every year in health damage, property damage and lost productivity to name a few.
I'm up for almost anything that will persuade people to not smoke or quit smoking. It takes a fairly deliberate effort to become a smoker. When I was young, I seen an exhibit that showed a normal lung vs an emphysema lung. Thats all it took for me I think.
So....I have to give a thumbs up to the effort.
I also saw a normal lung/smoker's lung exhibit in grade school which was very influential in my decision not to become a smoker. But the most effective was when one morning my mother had run out of cigarettes and was so frantic for her nicotine fix she was taking butts out of the ashtray and relighting them.
My mother died at 52 and my father at 66, both from smoking.
No matter how effective these ads are, they are certainly gross and I have an issue with them. They seem to be played around dinner time and I really don't want my son b eing exposed to those kinds of graphic shock ads. Yes, I can change the channel, but they're seemingly on every channel. If you want to get your point across, there are better ways to do it. Much better ways.
I cannot stand all those drug ads either. Tip. Set your recorder, start watching your show about 20 minutes into it for an hour long show, and then fast forward through all the commercials.
Location: Scott County, Tennessee/by way of Detroit
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The cigarettes in Canada, have graphic gross pictures right on the pack... My cousins from Windsor used to smoke 2 to 3 packs a day for years and years while that photo was staring them or us in the face on the picnic table.....luckily they quit...
I consider these adds to be a very realistic form of Reality TV. Smoking is like tap dancing in a minefield. Both can kill you but the mines are quicker.
Honestly the only time I notice them is when I have the news or a live sporting event on TV. If I'm watching something on my dvr I use the fast forward.
No matter how effective these ads are, they are certainly gross and I have an issue with them. They seem to be played around dinner time and I really don't want my son b eing exposed to those kinds of graphic shock ads. Yes, I can change the channel, but they're seemingly on every channel. If you want to get your point across, there are better ways to do it. Much better ways.
Why not have your son exposed to the negative nature of them? It's a lesson, "son, this is what happens to smokers"
It's a reality. By sheltering your child from that reality, you aren't helping them.
I'll never forget when I got rushed to the hospital to go through the early stages of diagnosis for my stage IV cancer. While waiting to go in for a scan, my younger brother came to be with me (he was 19 or 20 at the time, I was 23) and there were just two other people in the waiting room. They could tell I was really upset so we started talking. Or rather, the husband started talking. The wife couldn't - she couldn't have been more than 40 and had her tongue amputated thanks to a cancerous tumor caused by smoking. As they left for their appointment, the husbands last words to my brother were, "Don't start smoking, kid!"
Not to mention the fact that my cancer was likely triggered by exposure to my mom's smoking as a child.
So yeah - if seeing it on TV helps prevents me from having to see it in real life, I'm all for it. Small steps.
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