Shame on the CDC for its anti-smoking ads

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Shame on the CDC for its anti-smoking ads

Cancer patients who are featured on these PSAs do so voluntarily, because they don't want others to suffer the same fate.

IMHO, the images of cancer patients aren't disgusting. The things that are truly grotesque in this topic are the tobacco industry's lies and their making obscene profits that come at the expense of putting other people's health at-risk.

[tutusue]

Re: Shame on the CDC for its anti-smoking ads

Cancer patients who are featured on these PSAs do so voluntarily, because they don't want others to suffer the same fate.[...]

Generally speaking, this is true. To expand on the subject...a majority of the time PSAs are pro bono across the board; all cast members and all crew. I've cast many PSAs and on rare occasion there might be a very small stipend.

I remember one project, a local commercial, for breast cancer awareness. I had to find a lady who'd had a mastectomy and who was willing to show the results on camera. A local actress came forward and volunteered. She intensely wanted to participate. However, she was a union member, the project was non-union and the union refused to let her participate. I usually back the union on their rules but this time I was really disappointed that the rule couldn't be bent for "the cause".

To get back on topic...I completely understand Amati's concern. I've often had the same thoughts.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Shame on the CDC for its anti-smoking ads

Cancer patients who are featured on these PSAs do so voluntarily, because they don't want others to suffer the same fate.

Generally speaking, this is true. To expand on the subject...a majority of the time PSAs are pro bono across the board; all cast members and all crew. I've cast many PSAs and on rare occasion there might be a very small stipend..

Sue, I'm sure you're right about all this. And I appreciate the info you provide to all of us as an "insider" on this topic.

But for the sake of clarification, when I used the word "voluntarily," I wasn't referring to whether or not the subjects of these PSAs were getting paid or not. I was talking about the fact that these folks are doing so because they want to, not because they are forced to.

My "expertise" on this subject pretty much begins and ends with my father's high school friend, Lewis. A pack-a-day smoker for years, his life was turned upside down the day he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He had an operation to remove his larynx, leaving behind a breathing hole at the base of his neck and forcing him to learn how to talk again. They didn't have those portable speaking devices at the time, so one had to listen very carefully to him in a quiet environment if you wanted to understand him.

Lewis appeared in one of those mini-posters that the American Lung Association printed. The kind that were typically seen in doctor's offices or school classrooms. It was a B&W photo, showing him with his breathing hole fully exposed for all to see. I would imagine some people were grossed out about it at the time. But when my family came by to visit Lewis one day, his wife told us that he wanted very much to do this, as he felt this would be his way to help the greatest number of people, given his limited time and deteriorating condition.

Unfortunately for Lewis, the cancer continued to spread throughout his body even after the operation, and he passed away several years after the lung association poster.

While I've never forgotten the man, the poster was something that I've not thought about for quite some time. But this thread brought back a rush of memories about how Lewis spent his final days and how he still wanted to reach out and help other people to realize the dangers of smoking. And I'm sure that cancer patients who do appear on modern-day magazine ads, posters, and TV PSAs have a similar motivation that Lewis had all those years ago.

Perhaps it's not anyone's intent here, but in a way, criticizing those PSAs are like criticizing the people who appear in those spots. After all, those PSAs are possible only because the subjects agree to be a part of it. Sorry if my saying that offends anyone, but this topic is one that I am personally sensitive to. If anyone wants to close their eyes and ears to them, fine. That's their decision. But to shush them up entirely because a few people are grossed out,.... that is something else entirely.

I detest the tobacco industry for all of it's lies and greed. For better or for worse, these "reality-check" PSAs remain one of the strongest weapons there are to counteract tobacco's propaganda and influence.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Shame on the CDC for its anti-smoking ads

Reminds me of the anti-smoking PSA Yul Brynner taped - to be aired after his death. Throughout his life Brynner was often seen with a cigarette in his hand. In January 1985, nine months before his death, he gave an interview on Good Morning America, expressing his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial. A clip from that interview was made into a public service announcement by the American Cancer Society and released after his death. It includes the warning "Now that I'm gone, I tell you don't smoke. Whatever you do, just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer. I'm convinced of that."

[GregLee]

Re: Shame on the CDC for its anti-smoking ads

As a former smoker, I am reasonably aware of the dangers of smoking, and as a former cancer patient, I am sensitive to various risk factors for cancer -- not just smoking, but also eating red meat, especially smoked sausage and bacon. Does that mean I'm willing to have my tax dollars spent on disgusting ads to freak people out, or set child against parent, because some freaking leftist has decided how he thinks I should conduct my life? No, it doesn't. Running my life is not a proper function of government. I quit smoking for my own reasons, and if I want to start up again, I will. It's not the federales' decision.

[matapule]

Re: Shame on the CDC for its anti-smoking ads

[quote=GregLee;275744because some freaking leftist has decided how he thinks I should conduct my life?.[/quote]

Greg, that was completely uncalled for - mean spirited and confrontational. You have lost me in any attempt to understand your logic. And I know, you don't care.

[Kalalau]

Re: Shame on the CDC for its anti-smoking ads

I remember the book "The Hidden Persuaders" about the secrets of the advertising business in manipulating people. Cigarette ads on TV in the early '50's featured actors dressed up to look like doctors, or maybe even real doctors, recommending this or that brand, emphasizing safety and healthfulness. Sales dropped. Then the advertising pros analyzed the situation and produced ads that avoided safety and health issues completely, they concentrated on glamor and taste, and sales rose and continued rising. I smoked. Thank God I quit, I only hope I quit in time (1971). The cig companies used to have very attractive friendly girls giving away free samples of cigarettes in the student union, I understand among parting gifts to people leaving prison cigarettes are included, they have always been good at marketing their poison. The most absurd ad ever, I think it was Newports in a magazine ad showing healthy young mountain climbers taking a cigarette break high on some imaginary mountain peak. And product placement in movies! Glamour to the max! Even candy cigs for little kids. Then there's the economics of the industry--it is one of America's most reliable, popular, and profitable exports, it contributes billions of dollars in world trade profits, tens of thousands of people have jobs, livelihoods, turning out the poison. So it is legal. I wonder if my high school and college pals who smoked quit in time. My step brother still smokes, I think he started about age 15 and continues to at age 65 but his once handsome face is creased, it looks like a roadmap of LA. But go figure...the lady next door smoked AND had diabetes and made it to 87, but that is way against the odds.

Once I was standing in line to buy something at the neighborhood liquor store and in line right in front of me was my doctor who shyly bought a carton of some brand of ciggies, he kind of shrugged shyly to me on his way out.

[timkona]

Re: Shame on the CDC for its anti-smoking ads

My favorite dumb ass hypocrites are the folks who smoke cigarettes all the while supporting the War on Drugs and trying to say that drug use is evil.

Try Logic. Or Intelligence. It's really not that bad.