Inhaling Fear: Those Graphic Smoking Ads Potentially Encourage Smoking

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/opinion/12lindstrom.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

by dangoldin • 18 years ago

3 6 18 years ago

dangoldin• 18 years ago

This seemed really surprising to me since I'm disgusted by those ads but I'm not a smoker so I wouldn't know about the craving.

I guess the question is whether to get people to quit or to prevent people from smoking. The ads might work for the latter but not for the former.

redorb• 18 years ago

I love such bold claims from a 32 person study. :(

gojomo• 18 years ago

I'd like to see some rigorous analysis of the anti-smoking ads run in California. Moreso than the messages 'smoking kills' or 'you shouldn't smoke', they emphasize the message 'tobacco companies/executives are evil'.

That's always seemed to be an unfair use of public funds for nasty politics, to me. (The ads are a lot like election campaign hit pieces.)

I wonder if by blaming third parties for smoking, rather than individual decisions, it subtly enables smokers to avoid making a healthy personal choice. It also fortifies the self-righteousness of anti-smoking crusaders: "we good, they evil, ugh! ugh! ugh!"

seano• 18 years ago

"To the contrary, the warning labels backfired: they stimulated the nucleus accumbens, sometimes called the 'craving spot,' which lights up on f.M.R.I. whenever a person craves something" - maybe they were craving to be non-smokers.

joestrickler• 18 years ago

I smoke; most of my family smokes, around half of my acquaintances. As best as I can tell:

External messages (warnings, PSAs) have a negligible effect on people who already smoke. The psycho/physiological considerations are much more a factor than how graphic a warning message is.

Instead, they should be doing this study on people who don't smoke. The real goal is prevention.

Personally, I'm a programmer so I don't worry about warnings anyway, only errors.

ksvs• 18 years ago

Unfortunately smoking errors tend to be fatal ones.

Inhaling Fear: Those Graphic Smoking Ads Potentially Encourage Smoking

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