"Girls with dreams don't smoke or vape" - teaching our children to be prejudiced

[dragonpuff]

I ran across this today - Social Change UK is launching a new social engineering campaign aimed at young girls:

www
.social-change.co.
uk/news/post.php?s=2014-08-01-new-anti-smoking-and-aspiration-campaign-launches

Each poster features a picture of a young lady dressed up as if she was on her way to her dream job with a caption that reads, "Girls with dreams don't smoke. They don't vape. To be the best, don't follow the rest." They say the campaign is aimed at young girls, aged 11-13, in an attempt to reach them before they start smoking (or vaping, apparently).

The problem I have with this is that many young girls start smoking at this very age, and this poster will alienate every single one of them. I began smoking when I was 12 (I'm a girl btw), and if I saw a poster like this back then you know what the take home message would have been for me? Successful girls "don't smoke or vape," so if I already smoke I'm not going to be successful, right? I'm not like one of those career-minded girls on the poster, so maybe I shouldn't aspire to be.

Furthermore, this poster is demonizing the one thing (vaping) that might actually help these girls quit smoking!

Not to mention, what kind of message does this send to nonsmoking girls? That their peers who smoke are academically hopeless and will amount to nothing when they grow up. Let the bullying and marginalizing begin.

Girls this age are very sensitive and impressionable, and they ought to be more careful!


Shame on Social Change UK, for teaching some of the most vulnerable girls to be ashamed of themselves and to give up on their dreams!


I left a brief comment saying as much, but of course they plan to review it and approve before it is posted - so it will never be posted...

 

[Rickajho]

Yeah, "Just say no!" and all that jazz. Tell me how well that one has worked already.

 

[Nate760]

If the 13 year old female version of me saw a poster like that, she'd be offended enough to start smoking just out of spite.

 

[Vininim]

The motto "I saved $$$ by not smoking" together with a new "I saved $$$ by not buying metal tubes, batteries and hygroscopic concoctions" would be be a better approach in campaign for youth. More money left for other "social status" apparatus, like a new cool car, or for more effective psychoactives, like alcohol.

( I picked up smoking at 22, I don't know what is the appeal of light stimulants to kids and teenagers.)

 

[Harlen]

In the world we live in there must be someone you can hate and pick on , it's teatching you that the only way to get ahead is to put someone down .

 

[Fuzzy Bruce]

My experience raising two girls is,,, Tell them not to do something,,, They will do it!

"Girls with dreams don't smoke or vape" until they do!

 

[WhiteHighlights]

It looks like this ran over the summer. I agree with dragonpuff on the negative consequences of the ad - the whole thing is bad on so many levels.

Research undertaken by Social Change UK between January and May this year found that girls in Wrexham with low aspirations who didn’t take part in sport or after school activities were more likely to smoke or use e-cigarettes.

The campaign features eight girls from Grango High in Wrexham. The girls are showcased in their dream jobs, and feature quotes from the girls on how smoking and vaping will prevent them from achieving their goals.

The girls have low aspirations and don't take part in after school activities and it's smoking/vaping that is keeping them from their dream job, really? Message Result: Now I feel even worse about myself, I'm a loser and destined to be a failure. Why bother trying?

I wonder what they told the girls to say about vaping preventing them from achieving their goals - that had to be a twisted piece of BS brainwashing.

Supposedly the program had some advice about 'how to rise above bullying'. Hmm, it could be good to learn how to rise above the negative peer pressure in this campaign but I'd bet the ones that needed it most didn't participate.

This was supposed to be a pilot program. I hope they realized it was an epic failure, but somehow I doubt it - if it possibly helped 1 girl, it was a success, right? The others who were even further marginalized don't count...

 

[skoony]

I ran across this today - Social Change UK is launching a new social engineering campaign aimed at young girls:

www
.social-change.co.
uk/news/post.php?s=2014-08-01-new-anti-smoking-and-aspiration-campaign-launches

Each poster features a picture of a young lady dressed up as if she was on her way to her dream job with a caption that reads, "Girls with dreams don't smoke. They don't vape. To be the best, don't follow the rest." They say the campaign is aimed at young girls, aged 11-13, in an attempt to reach them before they start smoking (or vaping, apparently).

The problem I have with this is that many young girls start smoking at this very age, and this poster will alienate every single one of them. I began smoking when I was 12 (I'm a girl btw), and if I saw a poster like this back then you know what the take home message would have been for me? Successful girls "don't smoke or vape," so if I already smoke I'm not going to be successful, right? I'm not like one of those career-minded girls on the poster, so maybe I shouldn't aspire to be.

Furthermore, this poster is demonizing the one thing (vaping) that might actually help these girls quit smoking!

Not to mention, what kind of message does this send to nonsmoking girls? That their peers who smoke are academically hopeless and will amount to nothing when they grow up. Let the bullying and marginalizing begin.

Girls this age are very sensitive and impressionable, and they ought to be more careful!


Shame on Social Change UK, for teaching some of the most vulnerable girls to be ashamed of themselves and to give up on their dreams!


I left a brief comment saying as much, but of course they plan to review it and approve before it is posted - so it will never be posted...

its interesting to note that in the UK and other European countries would not allow that type of
advertising if it were for children's toys or McDonald's.

feeling sad? have a happy meal is strictly forbotten in children's advertising.
if it implies a specific out come not directly related to the product advertised
it can not be shown.
regards
mike

 

[Uma]

Well said DragonPuff. This is so outrageous!
The only good side? Those who wish to prove them wrong, as all rebellious teens do, will choose vaping over smokes. (Assuming smokes is indeed bad)
The main bad side? The ANTZ know full well how to manipulate minors into rebelling and this will increase the never-tried into regular users, for their data count.

Einstein would have a field day with this propaganda.

 

[Uma]

Haha, just on the first page of google search for "geniuses who smoked cigarettes".

Einstein, eccentric genius, smoked butts picked up off street - Telegraph

pipe smoking geniuses/tobacco

Genius who smokes out life's pleasures: THE LAST CIGARETTE by Simon Gray | Daily Mail Online

60 reasons for not smoking... and 100 keep on (or take up) smoking

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090910102159AACgN5l

Put That in Your Pipe - Reason.com

 

[danfinger]

lemme check the meter

I can't seem to manufacture any outrage over this. Good to see you found some meaning in your life though!

 

[dragonpuff]

Haha, just on the first page of google search for "geniuses who smoked cigarettes".

Einstein, eccentric genius, smoked butts picked up off street - Telegraph

pipe smoking geniuses/tobacco

Genius who smokes out life's pleasures: THE LAST CIGARETTE by Simon Gray | Daily Mail Online

60 reasons for not smoking... and 100 keep on (or take up) smoking

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090910102159AACgN5l

Put That in Your Pipe - Reason.com

My thoughts exactly! Smoking never kept me from going to college and getting my degree, but people looking down on me and telling me I wasn't capable nearly did.

I was hoping society would learn by the next generation, but I guess not...

 

[dragonpuff]

lemme check the meter

I can't seem to manufacture any outrage over this. Good to see you found some meaning in your life though!

So you're posting this to say that you don't care, but you obviously care enough about making sure that everyone knows you don't care to go out of your way to post that you, in fact, don't care. You're clearly trying to make an impression (congrats), but do you have an actual point to make as well? Or was this it?

 

[AndriaD]

People who say things like "I don't understand the appeal of smoking to young people" obviously have never dealt with ADD. When I started smoking in 1975, nobody knew about ADD, they just thought I was "lazy" -- high score on the SAT, barely managed to graduate high school. There's a good reason for that, actually -- when I took the SAT, I was 16, and I was allowed to smoke at home, which I did right before I took the test. Grabbing a smoke at school was perilous, and could lead to suspension -- not that that ever stopped me, but it was definitely a hazard.

But I spent all my high school years feeling like I was caught in a whirlwind, blown around willy-nilly, get to this class, that class way on the other side of the school, then back all the way across for the next. By the time school was out, I was exhausted, frazzled, didn't even want to go by my locker, and nevermind homework, why would I want to drag an armload of books home on the bus, on which I had to stand for the full ride. My life was completely out of my control, but one thing I could control was what I did with my body -- smoking, drugs, sex, whatever it took to make me feel like I had some control over my own body, since I had zero control over my life -- ADD, control-freak parents who thought I was a possession that they could place however they chose and since I was just a possession, naturally I wouldn't object. Smoking gave me just a smidgen of control. You won't stop kids from doing things that make them feel they have a little control over their lives, until their parents stop treating them like pets or furniture to be moved around, bossed around, at will, with no rationality whatever or at least none that's evident to a teenager. To a teenager, coercion does not work; all it does is make them more determined to do whatever it is they want to do, and if it's something their parents disapprove of, all the better.

Andria

 

[danfinger]

So you're posting this to say that you don't care, but you obviously care enough about making sure that everyone knows you don't care to go out of your way to post that you, in fact, don't care. You're clearly trying to make an impression (congrats), but do you have an actual point to make as well? Or was this it?

Manufactured outrage. Some people seem to search for reasons to get their knickers in a twist. That's my point.

 

[dragonpuff]

Manufactured outrage. Some people seem to search for reasons to get their knickers in a twist. That's my point.

I see your point I still don't see what that has to do with my thread, seeing as how I have legitimate reason to be bothered by this, but ok. If it doesn't bother you, then that doesn't mean it doesn't or shouldn't aggravate anyone else, or that if it does there is somehow something wrong with that that must be pointed out.

Basically, if you don't understand why I and others are upset about this, then it is likely because you grew up in a completely different situation that left you unable to understand why the subject material would be upsetting. It doesn't mean I'm bothered for no reason, it just means you and I came from different worlds, that's all.

 

[dragonpuff]

People who say things like "I don't understand the appeal of smoking to young people" obviously have never dealt with ADD. When I started smoking in 1975, nobody knew about ADD, they just thought I was "lazy" -- high score on the SAT, barely managed to graduate high school. There's a good reason for that, actually -- when I took the SAT, I was 16, and I was allowed to smoke at home, which I did right before I took the test. Grabbing a smoke at school was perilous, and could lead to suspension -- not that that ever stopped me, but it was definitely a hazard.

But I spent all my high school years feeling like I was caught in a whirlwind, blown around willy-nilly, get to this class, that class way on the other side of the school, then back all the way across for the next. By the time school was out, I was exhausted, frazzled, didn't even want to go by my locker, and nevermind homework, why would I want to drag an armload of books home on the bus, on which I had to stand for the full ride. My life was completely out of my control, but one thing I could control was what I did with my body -- smoking, drugs, sex, whatever it took to make me feel like I had some control over my own body, since I had zero control over my life -- ADD, control-freak parents who thought I was a possession that they could place however they chose and since I was just a possession, naturally I wouldn't object. Smoking gave me just a smidgen of control. You won't stop kids from doing things that make them feel they have a little control over their lives, until their parents stop treating them like pets or furniture to be moved around, bossed around, at will, with no rationality whatever or at least none that's evident to a teenager. To a teenager, coercion does not work; all it does is make them more determined to do whatever it is they want to do, and if it's something their parents disapprove of, all the better.

Andria

I was the same way, I didn't do well at all in high school. I couldn't focus worth a darn, inside or out of class. I had attention and mood issues, and smoking helped me control both, but unless I could smoke at least once every hour it wasn't enough. They had me on meds too but they didn't work. College was much easier because I was only stuck in one class at a time, then between classes I could smoke or do whatever I wanted. I did much better in college than I ever did in high school

That's what bothers me so much about campaigns like this, they say they aim to help kids keep from doing something that could harm them when in reality they drive the most vulnerable kids further away. That doesn't help anybody.

 

[SmokinRabbit]

The poster should say

"Girl with dreams DO THIS..."

Positive messages always gain more traction than negative ones. Don't tell them what NOT to do, just encourage them towards the positive things they should focus on doing.

 

[dragonpuff]

The poster should say

"Girl with dreams DO THIS..."

Positive messages always gain more traction than negative ones. Don't tell them what NOT to do, just encourage them towards the positive things they should focus on doing.

Yes! Exactly!

 

[AndriaD]

I never really had to push my son to do anything; he had all sorts of interests in school; one of the biggest was singing. When once I pointed out the "local hoods" hanging on the street corner and said "just so you know, those are not the sort of people you'd want to hang around with," he looked at me like I was crazy and said "why would I want to hang with losers like that, with nothing better to do than hang out on the street corner?" Pretty sure the singing thing was a major reason he never smoked when he was a kid, didn't start till he was nearly 19, and quit about 3 yrs ago. I think he may end up vaping, because he still feels the cravings, but doesn't want to go back to smoking.

But I'd have to say that I'm glad I didn't have any female children, because I really wouldn't have had a clue how to guide her into maturity, I had so little positive guidance myself.

Andria