Smokers face "shock" campaign
 

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I wonder if anyone actually thinks this will work? I don't!
People love to destroy their bodies and there isn't an ad campaign on the planet that will reverse that.

This campaign is similar to those anti drinking and driving ads that were graphic, showing blood on the windshield and dashboard. People still drink and drive and people will still smoke even though they see these images.

They're behind the times. In Australia for about 2 years we've had smoking ads with fat squeezed out of aortas like toothpaste and road tar poured over lungs. Back in the late 1980s we had smoking ads with fishhooks caught on tongues and AIDS ads with the grim reaper knocking people down with bowling balls.

Really entertaining.:p

Maybe it'll stop a few people from starting.

wow those type of pictures would make me stop!

I think pictures like that will cause more smokers to laugh than quit. Sad but true

About fucking time. Don't they have pictures of cancerous lungs on the back of cigarette packages in Canada or the UK (I forget) ?

I think it's a good thing...even if it only stops one person from starting up, that's one life saved. Every little thing we can do to stop smoking is worth it.

I think it's sad to see somebody that starts or routinely smokes, but I think tactics like this enter the realm of the obnoxious. Smokers are all well aware of the damages. I'm all for giving them ample warning, but after that it is their choice.

At some point you have to let people be responsible for themselves. In the last few years especially, the anti-smoking crap has become much more annoying than the smokers. And I absolutely hate smokers.

I think it's because I look at these ads and realize how stupid their target audience must be. It makes me want to blow up my whole country in shame.

If this happens I will keep my cigarettes in a nice cigarette case. Or, I will start leaving the packs out at dinner, in the smoking section of course!


seriously though, I know what I am doing is bad for me, I haven't quit cause it is so damn hard.

Sounds like they could be collectable someday though! Maybe they'll be the new baseball cards...

"I'll trade you a diseased lung for some rotten teeth."

oh the horror....

I thik I'm gonna have a cigar again tonight.

That is pretty disgusting, but if people who smoked cared about their health they wouldn't do it anyway...I think they should show older women who smoke and have faces like leather and voices like Barry White.

I don't think this will do much good at all.

For those that already do smoke, it won't help because it is just so damn hard to quit. People who haven't experienced it just don't understand.

For those that haven't started YET, it won't help because there is ample education on the danger of smoking in schools across America. In every grade you go through, you have at least one chapter on smoking and how it can kill you. There are all kinds of nasty details and graphics photos. And people continue to do it.

This is an entirely fruitless endeavor.

Obviously you and people like won't stop smoking with that attitude. I think it will work. It won't stop the problem 100% but will make some people think the next time they buy a pack of smokes and sees these disturbing images. It has worked in other countries like canada and elsewhere. Sorry I don't have the statistics on me. Education works for people who give a shit.

It couldn't be too costly to put a small picture on a pack of cigs...it'll be alot better than the General Surgeon's Warning or whatever it is.

ciggarette companys pay washington too much money for it to be that extreme

but maybe...

That doesn't make me want to smoke any less. I know what I could be facing if I don't stop smoking tobacco. It is no secret to me that cigarettes are the number one self-induced poison resulting in the death of millions.

Quitting smoking can be done easily, but why the fuck would I want to quit smoking? If I don't quit smoking I am at increased risk for cancer and I live an unhealthier life. There's no euphoria with it, but damn it feels good.

I'm going to have a cigarette, but just to make sure, I'm going to look at the teeth image again...

...okay, I'm going out for a cig, brb.

They've had those pics on cigarettes here for a couple years. When I was working in a store that sold them, I used to have people who'd ask for "x brand, but not the one with the nasty teeth or whatever picture on the pack".

Um, denial much?

Don't want to look at the picture but that's what they're doing to their body...

I just bought 2 new ashtrays, so I can't let them go to waste. Gotta keep smoking :D

And yes, Canada has had those pictures on the packs for about 2 years now.

The people that show these images act like smokers don't know the health risks. They do...

i don't smoke other than the occasional cigar, but i think i'm gonna go out and buy the cigarettes that have the cards in them, just to collect them. i'm kinda morbid sometimes and can't wait to collect them all!

What's next? McDonald's warning labels?

Over-consumption may lead to obesity. For an example, click here.

If they wish to kill themselves, let them.

How'd they get a picture of my mouth?

It seems that everyone just eventually got used to them, like most ad campaigns. I haven't heard of anyone learning something new from a package of cigarettes.

I think it's far more likely to stop people from smoking because people are too embarrassed to bring out something that's so gruesome.

Maybe they should just start putting disguisting images on the packs that aren't even related to smoking. Like a Pic of a 70 year old man being Castrated, or a needle poking into an eyeball.

Don't believe that would get me to quit though. The Internet has Jaded me to the point where nothing shocks me anymore.

Most of my friends just ignore the pictures, they pop the smoke in their mouth and than hide the package again so people won't ask them for a smoke. I have seen a couple of peple get a cover for their pack, I think they are at the dollar stores and they look similiar to the regular packaging except where the gross picture was there would be smilie faces or what not.

By itself it won't do much, but it probably costs them more to print those packages since they use mroe colours, I dunno.

Canada has this already

When I was a kid, my parents volunteered to help run a session of a stop smoking program. Hence I attended the sessions partly when sitting was not available or whatever.

I remember that there was a slide show showing pictures of the effects of smoking. These pics were real life, large screen and detailed. I can't say if these images had any part in my life decision to never smoke, but they may have.

BTW if you want to know what program my parents were helping with here's the link. It has a very good success rate, and maybe there's a TFP reader out there who would like to know a bit more about it. (I don't know if they still show the slides)

http://www.thebreathefreeplan.org/index.htm

I don't think this will work. Getting information about what cigarettes do out there is a good thing. Deliberately disgusting people is not. It's a purely emotional argument, and I find when you resort to such tactics you've already lost.

I remember seeing these on the packs in Canada last time I was there. It didn't stop me, in fact I had to collect one of each while I was up there. I was at the store saying, "no, do you have the one with the diseased lung?"

I tossed them when I quit. But that's not why I quit.

-Mikey

You guys are thinknig too small. These adds will scare the crap out of any little kid who sees a pack of cigs. this will eventually lead to a pavlovian response upon the child later in life seeing a pack of smokes. All these anti smoking addverts are creating a society where smoking is frowned upon so less people will smoke in the future. Think of how many kids started to smoke 'cause they thought it looked cool, well if it didn't look cool anymore.....

Most people need an addiction, it helps them avoid reality. Even if it got to the point where cigarettes are banned people would just move to something else. I say if someone wants to ruin their health, let them. Just don't make me foot their medical bill.

Exactly. MEAD touched on this also.

The entire shock campaign preaches to the converted. The whole point of them is not to get people to stop smoking -- they are well aware of the risks, so any scare tactics or campaigns that nag at smokers to quit is just going to be annoying to a smoker who is already trying to quit. The idea is to prevent those who already don't smoke to continue to not smoke.

Oh, oh, and just HOW effective have scare tactics been shown to be?

Seeing cancerous lungs in health class during grade school was enough for me while most people gave into peer pressure.

I don't think there are many campaigns which can prevent people from smoking. Here in Aus (as someone mentioned) we have had all sorts of gross ads like people squeezing tar from dead lungs and stuff. I smoked for almost 10 years and not once in that time did I actually consider "that could be what my lungs will look like". Now that I have quit, I find those ads really disturbing.

This tells me that they're either not doing something right, or maybe it's something that can't be done at all.

i think there is a big focus problem here

your not gona convince people not to smoke with ads like that they need to educate

about four years ago, i got up at 4:30 and i only had four cigs left. smoked them up and i was opening up a pack of my wifes doral lights when i went into the damnedest coughing jag i ever had. i couldnt get any breath! scared the shit out of me. ihad nicotine patches in the kitchen cupboard, planning to quit one day. i put on the patches and tapered off nicotine . that was august 11 1999 and i havent had a cigarette scince.