Shock factor raised in anti-smoking ads - WAtodayFebruary 23, 2009Graphic images of the diseased organs of a smoker will be used in a confronting anti-smoking ad campaign to screen in NSW from tonight. The campaign, called Cigarettes Are Eating You Alive, shows the effects of cigarettes on a smoker’s internal organs using real and computer-generated images. NSW Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Cancer), Jodi McKay, said the same campaign was used in New York with great success. There was a 400 per cent call increase to their quit hotline and over 240,000 US smokers have quit since its 2006 launch, Ms McKay said in a statement. The ad campaign is part of the government’s commitment to reduce smoking-related illnesses and deaths, Ms McKay said.

Source: WA today

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health, and tobacco prevention efforts are everywhere. So why do so many teens continue to do it? Tobacco advertising may impact that decision more than we realize. We know that kids feel peer pressure from other kids in their everyday lives. But the teens and adults in cigarette advertising may be one of the most influential peer groups of all.

Targeting Teens

As they move into their teens, kids often feel insecure about their appearance and their popularity. Cigarette ads use these insecurities to make empty promises. Ads give teens the message that smoking can help them become attractive, desirable, and independent when the reality is quite different. Smoking can cause bad breath and yellow teeth, isolate teens from largely non-smoking peers, and possibly lead to a deadly, lifelong habit.

Toughness and Masculinity

Images such as the Marlboro Man equate smoking with a macho ruggedness that is appealing to men and boys. This theme mirrors the pressures many boys face to be “tough”. Boys may believe that smoking will give them the aura of coolness they are searching for.

Body Image and Femininity

Tobacco companies have specifically targeted women and girls for many years by associating specific brands with slimness. In fact, cigarette advertising often depicts smoking as a weight management tool. This plays into the cultural pressures to be thin that many girls and women experience.

Tobacco Companies Need Kids

There are several reasons why tobacco companies target children and teenagers. In order to keep profits up, new customers need to be recruited to replace the thousands of smokers that die each day. Tobacco companies know that very few people begin smoking as adults; therefore, their best bets for these new customers are kids.

Ads are often geared specifically for teens. They use colorful graphics and images that catch their attention. They run in magazines that have a large teen readership. In stores, cigarettes are often placed close to candy displays and other products popular with kids. Promotional giveaways and tie-ins to sports and music events also increase young people’s exposure to tobacco products.

All of this advertising seems to work. According to The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, most teenagers who smoke use one of the three most heavily advertised brands. Tobacco companies realize that once a teen smokes their brand, they are likely to remain loyal to that brand for the rest of their lives.

Check out the tobacco industry’s latest shameful attempt in New Cigarette Targets Girls, and check out ways that you can help in the blog Kick Butts Day is Coming. Also see Teens and Alcopops for information on promoting alcohol to kids.

In 2005, the then I&B Minister, Jaipal Reddy, said, “A cinematic classic like Shatranj ke Khiladi cannot be made without the hookah,” proposing an exemption for films based on literary classics.

This was followed by the health ministry’s proposal to ban smoking in films by notifying the Cigarette and Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Rules 2005.

Despite, evoking the much debate on creative expression, the central government notified the ban in October 2006. But, director Mahesh Bhatt challenged the ruling in Delhi High court, and he was supported by many filmmakers. 

And, to their relief, in January 2009, the Delhi High Court quashed the central government’s notification banning on-screen smoking on grounds that it violates the fundamental rights of filmmakers. 

A single judge bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, said, “Banning smoking in films violated filmmakers’ fundamental rights of freedom of expression and speech as enshrined in the Constitution of India. Also, the film directors should not have multifarious authorities breathing down their necks when indulging in a creative act.” 

It is felt that in addition to creative expression, films depict reality of life and smoking plays a vital role in our daily lives. However, if there is a fear that such films will have a negative impact on young minds, then the decision to allow smoking or not in certain films, should be left to the Censor board. This clearly calls for responsible display of smoking and tobacco consumption in films.

Besides, constitutional or not, one cannot make Devdas without a bottle of alcohol in his hands or the modern day Dev D, without a puff of smoke. But, yes the ministry is not completely wrong with it tries to urge all of us to kick the butt on a more personal front. 

Lets take a look at some popular actresses smoking in Hollywood movies. This is not just used as advertisement techniques for a particular brand but to lure teenagers to this vice.

We’ve all heard of the ill-effects of smoking, right? Also, we are all aware of the statutory warning: Cigarette Smoking is Injurious to Health. But, what most of us don’t realise is that exposure to smoke is a bigger threat. 
Yes, passive smoking is more harmful than we think. According to a study released by Stanford University, a brief exposure to second hand tobacco smoke can cause similar damage or more damage to non-smokers than smokers. In fact, if one is exposed to outdoor passive smoking it is even more dangerous. 

Experts say the reason is simple: there are enough pollutants in the air and this air combined with toxic pollutants produced while smoking makes it really worse, which in turn poses higher health risk. 

So, the next time you are outside with your friends or family, try and spare a thought on the risks you could pass on, before you light a smoke. And, it’s not that passive smoking indoors is any safer. It might pose a little less threat than outdoor passive smoking, but the effects and risks are almost similar. 

These health hazards could be asthma, chronic bronchitis, breathlessness at night and even irregular heartbeat. If you have been smoking in the company of your non-smoker friends or family for a long time, chances are that they could be facing a risk of premature death or non-fatal heart attacks. 

If numbers is what you are likely to believe, then here is some fact. In 2006, a report released in the US, stated that second hand cigarette smoke or passive smoking exposed about 126 million people at risk of heart disease, lung cancer and death. 

Here’s a thought, you may have felt like a man or in control with that puff of smoke, but can you put yourself at a high pedestal, when you could be responsible for your friends’ or loved ones health.