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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHard core anti-smoking commercials. We're scaring our kids.
I overheard my 6 year old granddaughter and her friend talking today.
"Do you watch those movies about cancer people? The ones with their legs cut off and holes in their neck?"
"No. They're scary. I don't watch 'em. I just go out to the kitchen and look for a snack."
"I don't either. I watched one and I had bad dreams about it. Why do they have that on TV? Mommy changes the channel now. I'd rather watch Sponge Bob."
"Yeah, me too."
This is pretty much verbatim what I heard from two little girls while they were bouncing up and down on a trampoline in the back yard.
Have we gone overboard on the anti-smoking thing?
Just MHO, but I think there's been plenty of info about the risks of smoking. These two are highly unlikely to ever start smoking. Their parents don't. And obviously their friends don't.
These gross PSOs that have been running morning noon and night for the last several months. And they're scaring kids. Kids that will never smoke anyway and have enough to be scared about without this.
Got my Nomex undies on, so have at it.
Auggie
(31,226 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)We are actually way late to that party.
trof
(54,256 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)You should take a look at the Mexican and Australian adds.
Don't worry, tobacco is opposed and using new TTP rules (once the treaty goes online) will see the end of these campaigns.
Oh and the CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2013/a0530-anti-smoking-ads.html
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_cigarette_consumption_per_capita
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)I posted the photos on cigarette packages down thread.
MindPilot
(12,693 posts)They are so over-the top they are ineffective. Kids aren't stupid; they see that stuff on TV, then look around and see someone smoking who appears perfectly fine, or they try it themselves and don't die, then they tend to ask "what else are the grownups lying about?"
randome
(34,845 posts)Same thing with birth control. Maybe they could tone down the visceral descriptions and graphics, though.
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[font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font]
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MindPilot
(12,693 posts)But that is just part of my utopian fantasy that education can fix almost any problem.
bunnies
(15,859 posts)any more than I think they should be subjected to those uber-graphic anti-choice posters.
But hey... I dont have any kids so what the hell do I know. Im just glad I got rid of that damned TV.
olddots
(10,237 posts)over the top scare tactics are not educational they are entertaining.
Happyhippychick
(8,379 posts)They may not work with everyone but if one kid doesn't smoke because he/she was frightened by an ad it was well worth it.
trof
(54,256 posts)Especially when something scares kids.
They're too young to process that kind of cause and effect.
They just know 'yucky' and 'scary'.
tech3149
(4,452 posts)There's no need to scare them about smoking. They are smarter than that and something as simple as the smell is enough to turn them off to the idea of smoking. I've heard more than a few times "Daddy I don't like him ,he smells".
opiate69
(10,129 posts)Generally speaking, children/teens are pretty much incapable of conceptualizing themselves 10, 20, 50 years in the future, so there's no way they could relate themselves to the "old lady on TV".
Zoeisright
(8,339 posts)Kids need to be scared about tobacco and cigarettes. I highly doubt that telling them that cigarettes are deadly is going to give them nightmares.
Because the only people who start smoking in the first place ARE kids. Almost 90% of smokers (I think the number is higher) start before they're 18. The average age for a new smoker is THIRTEEN FUCKING YEARS OLD.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)These are Australian adds on cartons
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=ix.utAsf38Dk
Notice anything missing? Bueler?
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Somehow, that's OK.
In fact, booze ads were once forbidden but are now everywhere.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Which the commercials should, that is their goal.
Iggo
(47,586 posts)karmalk
(61 posts)i think they're more for people who already started
they're not making this stuff up, that's what really happens if you keep smoking, you get important parts of your body cut off as a very imperfect solution
it's fair warning, and i'm glad i had my own images in my head years ago, to motivate me to quit
jmowreader
(50,580 posts)A pack-a-day habit at $7 per pack is damn near a car payment.
The cute members of the gender you want to date don't want to kiss cigarette smokers.
The cops are starting to arrest teens who smoke; in Idaho, use of tobacco by minors is a $500 fine and our hanging judges have no mercy in this.
Standing in the rain sucking on a cancer stick makes you look like a dumbass.
Most parents will punish you severely if they catch you smoking.
Cigarettes take over your life. All the fun stuff happens when you're fifty feet away sucking on a butt.
It's good to point out what happens to you after 30 years of smoking; pointing out how it fucks up your life now would be good too.
surrealAmerican
(11,367 posts)... or are these children watching whatever their parents want to see? Not all television is appropriate for children that age, nor should it be.