No doubt you've heard about California's budget problems. In response, California has stepped up on advertising about smoking! I know, it is a great plan to get us out of the budget mess. So, as a treat, I will link two commercials that California is airing about smoking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il8j8c56S7A
Ah, this one is great. Listen to that sad music. Look at that innocent little girl trying on mommy's jewelery. She's ready to grow up and be great. Then oh no! She picked up that cigarette. Big tobacco knew she was impressionable and wanted to be popular. They made smoking be cool. They tricked her! Oh how horrible! Look at her now! That innocent little girl now has a hole in her throat and can barely talk. How sad.
Give me a break. "Big Tobacco" never forced her to smoke. She made the decision. If she did not want the consequences, she could have stopped smoking at any time. Yes, it is hard, but is it the tobacco company's fault? No. That's the same lame excuse that little kids make - the devil made me do it! Grow up. If you cannot choose for yourself then go live at home with mommy and daddy. Us adults in the real world have to face the consequences for our choices. Do not blame tobacco companies. Blame yourself. You'll get no sympathy from me.
http://www.tobaccofreeca.com/ads_tv.html
The other popular commercial is called "Emerging Man." It shows a guy in an airplane, a restaurant, and then finally a hospital. He says that it is great that we have banned smoking in restaurants and airplanes. Is it really? If I want a smoke at a restaurant, I cannot have one because you say so? If I want it, you can go somewhere else. Or better yet, the owner can decide. Why do we have to exclude smokers from everywhere they go? If they make the choice, why should we ban them from the places they go? Not that I am a smoker, but what is so bad about it? I do not like going to restaurants that smell like smoke either, but smoke free sections are a good compromise. Just let the owner decide based upon consumer demands. Was that system really so horrible that we had to deny rights to smokers?
But that was not even the worst part of the commercial. What was miles worse was what the guy said at the end about how many people tobacco smoke kills. It is an absolute fabrication. When someone dies, they check if the person was a smoker. If the person was a smoker, then it is decided that it is a death related to smoking. The guy could have died in a car crash, but it would still be recorded as being related to smoking. I smell a rat. These statistics are obviously skewed, but they are never challenged on it!
Oh well. Smoking is bad anyway. If you want to encourage people not to do it, that is fine. Just do it with your own money, stop taxing me to pay for these commercials, and do not restrict people's rights. California should be off in the loony-bin as far as I am concerned.
I am a heavy smoke and have been for 49 years. I know better and yet I have no plans to quit. I am, however, very conscious of other people's sensitivity to smoke and I try very hard to accommodate them. But I agree with you. restaurant and bar owners should be allowed to decide what they permit and don't permit in their establishments. Then customers will choose to do business with those establishments or not. The free market system is very efficient that way.
ReplyDeleteYet here in California, we have lost it for more than 100 years. It's a pity. People are so easily swayed by emotional ploys. We have left the age of great men and are now in the age of appeals to emotion. I don't know how it happened.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the state of California should've done their homework to realize the spike in adolescent tobacco use in the 90s is in sync with the anti-tobacco crusade. Of course, Joe Camel came out before the spike, so let's continue to blame him after his demise--as kids are continuing to smoke--despite all the evidence showing similar counter-productive results with D.A.R.E. and increased drug use amongst teens. Smoking is about rebellion, not trying to look "cool."
ReplyDeletePerhaps we should all be concerned with the fact that people feel free to lie to get their point of view across, or get what they want. It's very sad, especially in politics and advertising as in these ads. Isn't the law supposed to protect society from liars and thieves?
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