Since the new law came out about putting silly pictures on cigarette packets that are meant to warn of the dangers of smoking, this post has been spinning around in my head. And today, it just had to come out – mostly because I spotted this one (the one pictured).
I mean come on!
Firstly, it looks like something out of the 80s. Maybe because that’s the last time someone thought it was ok to do that. Maybe it’s the haircut, I’m still not sure. But let’s be real for a moment here. Anyone who would do that has much bigger things to work on than being a smoker, and I sincerely hope this picture has been Photoshopped.
Now some of the others make slightly more sense. The gammy lungs, the rotten foot etc. But do they work?
I find it extremely unlikely. Who’s the last generation that can honestly say they had no idea the damage smoking does when they started? I don’t know, but I’m almost 35 and I can’t. We knew the dangers, as do teenagers today.
And we chose to smoke anyway. Yes, I’m a smoker, and no, I’m going to try and defend that – at the end of the day if I want to suck a poisonous substance into my lungs that’s my choice. Mine. Not yours, and certainly not the government’s. And that isn’t why I’m having this rant today. It’s because ultimately, it’s a half measure of an action plan.
Are those pictures going to make anyone quit smoking? No. It takes way more than a gross image to have someone ready to quit smoking in a psychological and physical way. Are they going to stop anyone from starting smoking? No.
So what’s the point of them? I guess this way the government can look up in mock innocence and say “well, we tried”.
Maybe it’s because deep down, they can’t just come out and ban smoking because they would lose billions of pounds in taxes – lost revenue that would have to be covered by the very people who demonise smoking. Maybe it’s because without the taxes from smoking, the NHS would be even more underfunded. Or maybe it’s because they don’t actually care about the nation’s health at all, they just have to be seen to care.
I say this last point because if they truly cared about the nation’s health, and they truly thought these images would work they would have them on processed and sugary foods. Because in the UK, obesity related diseases kill more people than smoking.
Should the government truly care about our health as a nation, maybe they should have pictures of clogged arteries, enlarged hearts and livers encased in fat on junk food. But they don’t because it is, and probably always will be, easier to vilify smokers than anyone else.
This way, people are conned into thinking that something is being done. Something is being tackled. Well its not. It’s a half-hearted measure that will have no real effect on anything.
What do you think? Will those pictures have any effect on smokers or people thinking of starting? Should we really tackle mortality and start putting health warnings on junk food? Let me know in the comments 🙂
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we had this very conversation over new year. Its all about tax revenue. They put on the graphic pictures toappease the anti smoking lobby (Ie: suggest they are ‘trying their best”( … I’ve heard people jokingly say “shall i have the ones with lung cancer or impotence today” – it stops no-one because they can’t afford to have people stop. If it worked there’d be pictures of fatty deposits around the heart on chocolate bars etc etc. I do however (as a none smoker , find it much more pleasant to go to pubs abd restaurants now smoking is banned but when i went on a hen weekend had to spend the entire night standing in the ‘smoking arena’ or be in a nightclub alone – 19 out of the 20 of us were smokers and they all had to have a fag every single time one of the others wanted one!!!!
Exactly – it’s a half measure that appeases the lobbyists without actually achieving anything!
I can totally appreciate the whole smoking in pubs etc thing (although I do believe each landlord should have the option to be smoking or non-smoking) and certainly in restaurants – it’s definitely a good thing it’s banned anywhere that serves food! It doesn’t sound like much fun standing in the smoking area as a non-smoker though!
YES!! I agree with this whole heartedly, and that picture is just ridiculous. I’m 19 and always known smoking is ‘bad’ but its my choice to do it and some silly picture, especially one like that, isn’t going to do anything.
Exactly! People are already making an informed decision!
I don’t think those warnings work either.
I just don’t see how they could unless it’s something new which this isn’t!