Stop Smoking Ads

[dick]

So, I'm watching the news or something tonight, and I see one of those PSAs for quitting smoking. It had images of smoke, a hand holding a cig, and some ridiculous skull in the smoke.

Some feeble attempt by someone to try and get people to stop smoking.

As a professional smoker who recently quit, all that ad did for me was make me want to smoke.

Seriously.

I sat there and thought, 'damn, I miss smoking.'

Some numbnut who probably never smoked a puff in his/her life most likely came up with that tantalizing display of what I sometimes find myself missing.

Why not ask smokers and ex-smokers what would turn them off?

I stopped cold-turkey Jan. 01 '06. Never looked back. Mind over matter, although I did get weepy and emotional the first time I had to play a club with my band sans-cigarette. Tough to do. But now it's like, pretty easy.

But an ad like what i saw tonight would not make a smoker want to quit. Back then I used to think (and laugh to myself) 'Oh yeah, I gotta smoke...' and light up... with a smile on my face...

Perhaps vile photos of fettid lungs and dying people would do it. Although that was not the reason I quit. I just got sick and tired of paying too much for a strange vice, and it was kinda smelly. Plus, I wanted to see if I could really, honestly say "I'm not addicted, I can quit any time!!"

So far, so good.

With all that money I'm saving now I can drink even more!!!

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Stop Smoking

What's a professional smoker? One who gets paid to smoke?

I admire anyone who quits smoking not because it's bad for their health but because I'm sick and tired of seeing people flick their butts outta their car windows or burying it in the sands of our beaches only to have my kid find it and pretend to smoke it.

In your case you did an excellent choice by choosing to lose that habit. I guess the best phrase for your actions is: Smoking is for quitters. That makes sense. But then again...smoking what?

[BigD]

Re: Stop Smoking

I agree with you Dick about the no smoking ads. Come this July, it will be 8 years since I quit smoking but the ads are in my opinion the most lame and silliest ads I have ever seen on TV. They waste all that money on silly ads that makes no real sense to a smoker. They are not funny or educational. Just lame. If anything, those ads will drive me back to smoking. LOL. NO CAN. Oops, wrong commercial. Aloha, BigD.

[1stwahine]

Re: Stop Smoking

It's been several hours. I'm cranky. Everytime I get weak, I'll come to this thread. Nuff said.

Blaine, Lurkah, I trying again. I tired. Cigarettes are expensive. I can't let it control me anymore.

Auntie Lynn

[Bumpy]

Re: Stop Smoking

Bravo for having quit smoking! It was one of the toughest, as well as one of the best things I've ever done. As for the spot, it may have different meanings for different people. I see, in the ad, (cigarette) smoke turning into the face of death. What movtivated me to quit, after over 30 years (yikes), was the death of an old high school sweetheart at the age of 46. I hadn't spoken to her in about 25 years when I called her. She told me, "Dale, please quit". It really scared me and I stopped almost immediately. She died less than two weeks later, leaving a husband and two teenaged daughters behind. I have tears of saddness in my eyes even now as I write this. Yes, I had a generally bad attitude for several months, and gained about 15 pounds. But I was still in radio at the time, so I would just shut the studio door and yell at the board or the foam on the walls when I got mad. I told people what was going on, and they knew to keep away. That was 5 years ago. The great news is that, in time, the desire almost totally leaves, even after meals. (A tuesday night at Oceans is the closest temptation, but a whiff or two from someone else's cig seems to satisfy.) A new sense of taste and smell takes its place. And you gotta love the adsence of weezing and coughing in the morning. As a (very minor) player in Honolulu's media-tainment biz for the past 10 years or so, I've enjoyed reading this board for a long time, but always chose to remain silent and just "listen" to everyone else. This thread, however, somehow coaxed me into the light with my 2-cents. I think if that anti-smoking PSA becomes a catalyst for just one person to quit, or instills in some youngster a negative picture of cigarette smoking, then it deserves air.

[dick]

Re: Stop Smoking

It's interesting that now I have really no desire to smoke. It's little things like lame no-smoking PSAs, or five-too-many beverages that will spur the desire to smoke. But even that's going away... now it's more of an idea that smoking is just something I don't do. And that's what it came down to for me when I stopped. I just removed it from my mind. It's like running with scissors -- just something I don't do.

Funny thing is that I tell friends who smoke about my stoppage, and they get all moody and reluctant to smoke around me. I tell them that they can smoke all they want around me, it makes no difference, but they still seem to worry about it...

[1stwahine]

Re: Stop Smoking

Taking it somewhere else! ummmph!

Auntie Lynn

[mel]

Re: Stop Smoking

Just a note: This seems to be kind of a borderline topic. If we can keep the discussion relevant to the commercials and PSAs being broadcast on TV, then this will be on topic. I think if you folks want to start a thread on how you beat the smoking habit or what you are doing to overcome it, that is best taken to "The Laboratory" section of this board.

[mel]

Re: Stop Smoking

BTW, are the "target" PSAs featuring children still running? I think those PSAs are better than the new one with the smoking monster face in it.

[sin]

Re: Stop Smoking

Some numbnut who probably never smoked a puff in his/her life most likely came up with that tantalizing display of what I sometimes find myself missing.

Why not ask smokers and ex-smokers what would turn them off?

so what WOULD turn smokers off? just wondering. even as a non smoker i saw those ads and thought, dumb. how is anyone but a kid supposed to be scared of that? then again, maybe that's the point.

congrats on not smoking by the way, i should have realized it by the lack of clovish in the air downstairs.

[charm1110]

Re: Stop Smoking

So, I'm watching the news or something tonight, and I see one of those PSAs for quitting smoking. It had images of smoke, a hand holding a cig, and some ridiculous skull in the smoke.

Some feeble attempt by someone to try and get people to stop smoking.

As a professional smoker who recently quit, all that ad did for me was make me want to smoke.

Seriously.

I sat there and thought, 'damn, I miss smoking.'

Some numbnut who probably never smoked a puff in his/her life most likely came up with that tantalizing display of what I sometimes find myself missing.

Why not ask smokers and ex-smokers what would turn them off?

I stopped cold-turkey Jan. 01 '06. Never looked back. Mind over matter, although I did get weepy and emotional the first time I had to play a club with my band sans-cigarette. Tough to do. But now it's like, pretty easy.

But an ad like what i saw tonight would not make a smoker want to quit. Back then I used to think (and laugh to myself) 'Oh yeah, I gotta smoke...' and light up... with a smile on my face...

Perhaps vile photos of fettid lungs and dying people would do it. Although that was not the reason I quit. I just got sick and tired of paying too much for a strange vice, and it was kinda smelly. Plus, I wanted to see if I could really, honestly say "I'm not addicted, I can quit any time!!"

So far, so good.

With all that money I'm saving now I can drink even more!!!

I quit smoking just over a month ago and agree with you,it makes me wanna smoke!??!

[pzarquon]

Re: Stop Smoking

I think if you folks want to start a thread on how you beat the smoking habit or what you are doing to overcome it, that is best taken to "The Laboratory" section of this board.

We've had several smoking threads, but yeah, clearly a good discussion can be had about everyone's personal experiences with smoking or smokers outside this "Hawaii Television" forum. Feel free to revive the "Who smokes here?" thread with your own answer and thoughts.

BTW, are the "target" PSAs featuring children still running? I think those PSAs are better than the new one with the smoking monster face in it.

I haven't seen the "monster face ad," but I'm familiar with the "targeting children" ads -- running and playing, and going to the movies being the two variations I can recall. The ad copy seems to target adults and parents, but for better or worse they also catch the eye of kids. My daughter asked about them, sparking a conversation about smoking... which in itself is already a good thing. She's already got a firm dislike of smoking, but thinking about advertising and vulnerable young minds certainly strengthened it.

I'm one of the many who doubt the effectiveness of television advertising as a health measure to stop smoking in a community. But who knows, it might very well make a difference in some households. I also agree that the stuff I saw in Asia and Canada -- black bloody lungs on subway walls and billboards -- might have a stronger impact... but could also put folks off their lunch (and give kids nightmares), kind of uncool if they're non-smokers and don't ever plan to be anyway!

Using the state's tobacco settlement money to make a TV ad about smoking, at least, makes more sense than raiding the funds to pay debt or for other state projects. According to some estimates, out of the $116 million the state got in the settlement, less than $6 million actually went to anti-tobacco initiatives.

Whether or not our beatiful new UH medical school building counts as a health initiative, tobacco-related or not, is probably open to debate.

[lavagal]

Re: Stop Smoking

BTW, are the "target" PSAs featuring children still running? I think those PSAs are better than the new one with the smoking monster face in it.

I gotta say that this particular commercial scares the bejeebers out of my girls, who already know that smoking is bad for them. They run away from the room when it comes on. I consider it effective as a stay healthy motivator for kids. I would imagine that before the smoke actually take shape, that the whisps would be seductive for former smokers.

@

[Pinball]

Re: Stop Smoking

[QUOTE=sin]so what WOULD turn smokers off? just wondering. even as a non smoker i saw those ads and thought, dumb. how is anyone but a kid supposed to be scared of that? then again, maybe that's the point.

Agree, too. The smokey skull thing makes me want to light up. The one state ad I can recall that did my attention was the one a few years back that linked smoking to impotence using a drooping cigarette. I thought it was clever, good-natured and potentially effective with young men. Not sure what message women smokers were supposed to come away with, though. Don't date other smokers?

[tutusue]

Re: Stop Smoking

[...]The one state ad I can recall that did my attention was the one a few years back that linked smoking to impotence using a drooping cigarette. I thought it was clever, good-natured and potentially effective with young men. Not sure what message women smokers were supposed to come away with, though. Don't date other smokers?

I'd forgotten about that one! Dunno how as I cast that spot! That was a funny day, to say the least! I don't think women smokers were targeted with that commercial...just the guys in a way they could easily relate to!

Unfortunately there's no single anti-smoking campaign that'll work for everyone...or will be liked or even understood by everyone. But if a campaign prevents even a few people from ever smoking or causes even a few people to stop smoking then there's a degree of success that can't be measured.