The new "CDC campaign" that is starting on Monday 3/19!

[Drewps5co0tt]

These anti-smoking witchhunts are starting to get way out of control now...as an ex-smoker of almost 15 months it's stressing the hell out of me having to constantly hear and see this crap. Our government claims they care about our health and wants us to stop smoking...bull....! If they really cared they would make cigarettes illegal and end this bull.... crusade their are on.

The latest ads that are about to hit (at least in my area for the next 3 months)...check a few out here from my local news channel in the DC area. Terri Hall, Roosevelt Smith, Spotlighted In CDC's $54M Anti-Smoking Campaign | wusa9.com

I don't know about you but I have yet to see one single person walking around with a hole in their throat from smoking, I realize it happens but it's on the extreme end of what smoking can do to you. The scare tactics are getting way out of hand now and it's turning into the disgusting catagory now. As mentioned earlier, this crap puts a huge amount of stress of me and I don't even smoke anymore, I can only imagine what it's doing to current smokers pressure wise.

P.S. I wasn't sure where to post this, if it needs to be moved feel free...

 

[jkmtwo]

I'll be honest with you, I could care less, have the anti-smoking nuts gotten out of hand, well yeah, but to be real, as a libertarian, you should expect the big bully of government to press its thumb down.

Its quite simple really, it all goes back to money. The more government dips its fingers into health care, things like cigarettes which cause a multitude of health problems, which costs the government a ton of money to treat. The money has to come from somewhere....

You can see the same thing going on in the fast food industry, or even in schools, it is now in many places in this country a mandate that children have to eat lunches that meet government guidelines. Again, it all goes back to money at the end of the day.

 

[ambition]

Makes you wonder why they put these ads on when they really don't want everyone to quit.

As a smoker, everytime I saw a quit smoking ad I'd just light up.

Maybe there's something to that.

 

[MikenGA]

Let's see...CDC is spending $54,000,000 over a 3 month period, in hopes of persuading 50,000 folks to quit smoking.

$54,000,000/50,000 = $1080 per person

In my opinion, that's an extreme waste of money for scare tactics that rarely work.

I think the money would be better spent buying starter PV kits and giving them away with a 3 month supply of juice. It would be more effective, and could reach more people in a POSITIVE way.

 

[Gabe1291]

You can see the same thing going on in the fast food industry, or even in schools, it is now in many places in this country a mandate that children have to eat lunches that meet government guidelines. Again, it all goes back to money at the end of the day.

And then they turn around and class pizza as a vegetable for school lunches. I doubt we'll ever see anything from congress that follows any known logic other than greed.

 

[ambition]

I discussed this with a friend earlier and he came up with an interesting theory.

He'd heard that there was actually a study done (sorry, no references so it could be untrue) the anti-smoking ads, especially the nasty ones are proven to make people smoke more.

As we discussed it, he came up with a theory that involves using ads to scare the older smokers, and people on the edge of serious health problems into quitting, while stressing the younger, fitter smokers that have less chance of getting seriously ill anytime soon, into smoking more.

We're basing this on the fact that you rarely see a 20 or 30 something in these ads.

Kind of a "we'll try to head off some problems now, appear to be socially responsible, make some cash, and deal with the other crap years from now when it actually becomes a problem" conspiracy.

What yall think of that?

 

[mooreted]

"For every teen we get to stop smoking, two more potential smokers are born." Not sure if that's exact, but the idea is stupid. So, rather than being successful at curtailing smoking, smokers are doubling exponentially?

"Advertising works. Hard-hitting ads work..." citation needed. I think not.

I know when they lied to us about other "things" in the 70's it made us go out and want to try the "things" they lied to us about.

Smoking is bad, I'll grant you that, but trying to scare people straight is not the way. Education and offering viable alternatives is the way.

 

[StotheK]

I don't know about you but I have yet to see one single person walking around with a hole in their throat from smoking, I realize it happens but it's on the extreme end of what smoking can do to you. The scare tactics are getting way out of hand now and it's turning into the disgusting catagory now. As mentioned earlier, this crap puts a huge amount of stress of me and I don't even smoke anymore, I can only imagine what it's doing to current smokers pressure wise.

I once held the door open at the local cheap cigarettes place for a guy in a scooter, on oxygen with a stoma (hole in his throat). That's dedication.

 

[jkmtwo]

"Advertising works"
New Coke anyone?

 

[poetofisis]

Well of bloody course it makes people smoke more! Did prohibition curtail drinking? No. As free men, born, we are naturally rebellious and independent. There is absolutely nothing wrong with smokers and their (our?) habit. Not even when it affects another. There is no guarantee, of any kind, of safety upon this earth. We are constantly surrounded by things that cause cancer other than cigarettes. Finally, think of all the money and headache saved if these so called 'patriots' (love how the ignorant tout that horn without understanding it or the responsibility involved) would actually live up to their civic duties as Americans and mind their own bloody business... #*$&! them lol.

 

[marlou]

The anti-smoking campaigns worked on me. I was a 1ppd smoker, but after they started with the no-smoking areas and then outright bans I went up to 2ppd. It was easy to see the handwriting on the wall. It's always the same when the government gets involved; give them an inch and they take a mile. It made me nervous, which led to smoking even more.

 

[Deblym]

I remember 20 hrs ago in university a prof talking about studies that showed the 'warning! Danger!' way of trying to get people to quit actually increased teen/young adult smoking.....that whole defiant 'dare you' factor. Lol I remember those days well. And slightly off topic saw a news article yesterday where they showed those type of ads.....people who had face/jaw cancers, holes in throat etc (rather disturbing images) to grade 7 students so they could 'vote' on which ad was most likely to keep them from smoking. It made me mad..... Where does the school system get off scaring kids.... Who's parents might smoke...by gruesome and graphic images. And leading them to believe this will happen to their loved one. If it had been my child at her school.....I would have been loudly complaining.

Rant over .

 

[Drewps5co0tt]

I once held the door open at the local cheap cigarettes place for a guy in a scooter, on oxygen with a stoma (hole in his throat). That's dedication.

Yikes, to me the throat cancer thing scares me even more than lung cancer.

 

[Drewps5co0tt]

Well they started going strong tonight on the east coast! I've seen about 10 of them so far on the local networks already, one of them had a woman bleeding from her stoma...come on CDC, really? Good gawd!

 

[chrispete]

Whoooooooa!

 

[Drewps5co0tt]

Whoooooooa!

Why do you keep posting that pic, some kind of private joke against me or something?

 

[c.chalie]

they could of pumped 54m back into the econamy to try and fix it rather then this B.S.
sounds like some people need to readjust some priorities

 

[AttyPops]

Remember these? Did they help?

Seriously, this is only a drop in the bucket for $$ compared to cig advertising. Maybe it will stop a few from starting to smoke. IDK. I'd rather they advertised e-cigs as healthier alternatives and portrayed smoking as "soooo last century". OTOH, old stuff can be classic (steam punk?) too. Who knows.

It seems that there's about 20% of the population that is using tobacco at any given time. IDK if you can reduce it much from there. I hope they can. Better to get the f-ing carpet glue out of the FSC cigs. Makes em even worse.

 

[mjradik]

Let's see...CDC is spending $54,000,000 over a 3 month period, in hopes of persuading 50,000 folks to quit smoking.

$54,000,000/50,000 = $1080 per person

In my opinion, that's an extreme waste of money for scare tactics that rarely work.

I think the money would be better spent buying starter PV kits and giving them away with a 3 month supply of juice. It would be more effective, and could reach more people in a POSITIVE way.

+++1 There. It makes perfect sence.. Doubt 50,000 people will quit smoking because of these adds. But if the goverentment spent $108 to buy 500,000 people starter kits and a few months of juice, I bet at least half (250,000) would quit smoking. Well I actually think it would be higher, BUT you have to be conserviative and be on the safe side. I'd personally give it a 80%+ success rate.

Plus the 54M would be better spent with ecig companies (spread the wealth with many many different vendors), rather going to TV stations and networks....they don't need more $$$$$... Small businesses do..

 

[chrispete]

Why do you keep posting that pic, some kind of private joke against me or something?

I was just responding to the pic, it was posted by someone else...