Warnings don’t work, it seems. People still smoke. They just don’t get it.
But there is a new era coming. Concerned investigators are claiming that putting hideous images on the packets, showing real damage caused by the smoking habit, prompts more people to quit. Hopefully it will also stop kids ever starting.
Very few people read the health warnings on cigarette packets, I conclude. But everyone is affected by the power of an image. You can’t escape it: the picture of a rotten mouth, with teeth dropping out, or a disfiguring facial cancer every time you whip out the packet for a light up MUST, surely, cause a smoker to hesitate!
Now new federal regulations are planned in the USA and will be in force within 3 years. That means shocking images will start appearing on cigarette packets here. They appeared today (27th August) for the first time in the UK. Other governments have been enforcing their use for some time.
Over the last decade, countries as varied as Canada, Australia, Chile, Brazil, Iran and Singapore, among others, have adopted graphic warnings on tobacco products. Some are downright disturbing: in Brazil, cigarette packages come with pictures of dead babies and a gangrened foot with blackened toes.
If U.S. regulations are modeled after those already in place in Canada and other countries, the warnings will be hard to look at: blackened lungs, gangrenous feet, bleeding brains and people breathing through tracheotomies.
Though shocking, the more graphic the image, the more effective in discouraging smoking, says Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and director of the university’s Center for Tobacco Control, Research and Education.
Doubters have suggested that images which are too stomach-turning may backfire because people eventually ignore them. In fact current research shows this is not the case: the most graphic images pack the most emotional impact and seem to be working.
When I say working; well, Canada, for example, where 13% of the population smoked, has had a gratifying 5% drop since the graphic warnings were adopted in 2000. That’s not a lot, until you translate it into lives saved.
But a measly 5%? Smokers just don’t get it! But then, you have to be dumb to start smoking in the first place…
Check out this site with lots of links and references featuring brain damage and lowering of IQ among smokers (maybe that’s why they won’t quit?)
You have never been a smoker; I can tell by your ignorance of the subject. There are a lot of extremely intelligent people who smoke. First, it is a psychological situation that makes most people start smoking – they feel insecure and want to fit in.
Second, that first cigarette has a hook in it. They finally proved that the American tobacco companies intentionally put addictive chemicals in their cigarettes to keep their consumer base. It has been shown that quiting cigarettes is harder than quiting heroin.
Third, the longer someone smokes, the harder it is to quit because the addiction becomes a habit, so you have the double problem of addiction and habit.
How do I know this? I smoked for 20 years and have been smoke-free for 21 years now, and quitting was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I still ocassionally have a strange feeling of wanting something but I don’t know what, then I realize I’m wanting a cigarette. This happens most often when I’m in a situation in which I would have lit up – at a stop signal, finishing a meal, etc.
It takes more than just wising up or just wanting to quit. You have to know your enemy and have strategy going into the battle. I went to AA for a year and used everything I heard there about alcohol to fight against cigarettes. I also read everything I could about how smoking effects the body and what tricks others used to quit. And it took every trick in the book (like using cinamon sticks to ‘pretend smoking’. You feel the stick in your fingers like a cigarette would feel; you see the stick; you take a deep drag of air into the lungs. It helps get past the strong craving.)
I also found that telling a smoker how stupid they are for smoking makes them need a cigarette. Denying their need/desire has the same effect. Offering an option helps more: tell them to take 3 deep breaths, give a stick of gum, ask them to go for a short walk. It takes only a few seconds to get past a craving, but pissing the smoker off just makes them light up to deal with being pissed. After all, smoking is a crutch that smokers use to help them get through lifes bumps. Cigarettes are friends that are always there for you and to live without them is scary and you grieve their loss when you quit.
So, stop telling smokers they are stupid. They already secretely believe that and that’s why they started smoking in the first place. When you’re trying to get out of the turd pile, more turds don’t help. Instead, offer constructive, helpful comments.
If anyone wants more information on how I quit smoking, feel free to contact me.
Hi, WJPurifoy,
thank you for your well-voiced observations.
People who have never smoked (like me) need to understand and empathize with those who, like yourself, once did or continue to – and strive against mighty odds to quit.
You’re absolutely right to point out to us non-smokers that, to direct unkind and unhelpful comments at smokers, is most counterproductive and hurtful.
I will think twice before I say ANYTHING to a smoker about his habit. We non-smokers naturally want our fellow citizens to be free of the smoking addiction and the terrible harm it does, and kind and encouraging and helpful rather than act snidely, condescendingly or dismissively.
You have helped me to better understand things from a smoker’s perspective.
Sincerely,
Jos Callinet.
I wish this site allowed us to edit our comments AFTER posting – the next-to-last paragraph in my comment above I wanted to be as follows:
I will think twice before I say ANYTHING to a smoker about his/her habit. We non-smokers naturally want our fellow citizens to enjoy the freedom from the tyranny of smoking addiction and the terrible harm it does, but when we speak up, we must make every effort to be kind and encouraging and helpful rather than snide, condescending or dismissive.