# Is anyone else sick of anti-tobacco PSAs 'cause they think we're morons? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 23, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704 "2004-09-23T16:33:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/1 "2004-09-23T16:33:37Z")
For the record, I’m mostly a nonsmoker. Maybe a cigar once every six months, and very rarely a couple of cigarettes. I’m well aware that smoking bothers many, many people, and I’m sympathetic to them. I’ve had no problem adjusting to the ban on public smoking (well, natch, seeing as I was only smoking about one pack every three years). But these PSAs, they’ve got to go. I offer for your consideration the latest one here in California. We see a group of Big Tobacco executives having a board meeting. The CEO starts talking about their growth, and suddenly, a clone of the CEO pops out of his very chest, right around the third shirt button. The other men around the table (and they always are men, in these ads) also start spewing out clones. The clones themselves start having clones, and before you know it the room is jammed to the rafters with tobacco executives. At the end of the commercial they’re spilling out into the street, continuing to clone. The voiceover intones, “As they continue to grow, we continue to die”. My problem with that is that it makes tobacco use sound like a random hazard that can strike anyone, anywhere, completely unpredictably. Like an earthquake, or a tidal wave. But no. _We_ do not continue to die. The people who choose to smoke, many of them, are the ones who continue to die, not _we_ as in the general population of California. I’ll concede that nonsmokers who live with smokers, who smoke in their presence, are at risk, but _by and large_ with the end of even outdoor public smoking in most places, nonsmokers have little to worry about. And what’s all this tobacco company growth the ad is talking about? Smoking is so marginalized in California–last I heard it was about 16% of adults–that I wouldn’t be surprised if a smaller proportion now smoke tobacco than smoked pot in the 1970s. Tobacco companies are hardly allowed to advertise or market to anyone these days. I don’t mean to defend tobacco companies, but if government wants to have PSAs, they should just give the facts…this is what smoking does and why it’s bad for you. Putting on surrealistic, Dali-esque silliness like that PSA I described is just stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/2 "2004-09-23T16:55:36Z")
These are paid for by tobacco company lawsuit settlement bucks, right? What control do the tobacco companies have over content of these ads, I wonder. If they had enough to make sure only the stupidest ads make the air, that would explain a lot… ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/3 "2004-09-23T17:03:36Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > These are paid for by tobacco company lawsuit settlement bucks, right? I believe that’s correct, and that’s another issue. Wouldn’t it be more productive to have the money fund tobacco related medical costs, and smoking cessation assistance for, you know, actual smokers who want to quit? That is, instead of blaring these ads out to all of us, most of whom don’t smoke? Yes, prevention is important, too, and PSAs do play a role there, but I think the time is long past when primetime TV spots made any sense. Oddly enough, it’s the tobacco companies themselves that are now speaking more honestly and straightforwardly about the hazards of smoking, in their own PSAs. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/4 "2004-09-23T17:23:10Z")
I’ll probably get a little bit flamed for this, but I think they really need the extreme commercials. Basic anti-smoking information commercials have gone the way of the dodo. What percentage of the people currently smoking have absolutely _no idea_ that smoking is bad for them? I’m guessing that’s a pretty low number. The only way the anti-smoking people have to make a change within the timespan of an advertising campaign is to shock the viewer. So, we get “The amazing story of the radioactive people” and things like that (the Truth ads). Long-term education and experience have probably been responsible for more people quitting smoking than any surgeon general warning. Of the people you know who have quit, did _any_ of them pull an Opus and say, “Hey! It says here that this product contains chemicals which are harmful to foetuses in pregnant women! I’m not smoking _these!_”? ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/5 "2004-09-23T17:28:51Z")
Can I please hijack this thread to pit those co-workers (many of whom are total strangers) who, when they see me standing outside, smoking, feel obligated to tell me “You should quit,” or “That’s bad for you, ya know?” To the latter, I typically respond with a “Really? I was not aware of that,” delivered in a tone comprised of 50% sarcasm and 50% self-deprecating humor to let them know that their comment was incredibly stupid and they should shut their pie holes. To the former, I pose the question “If you see a morbidly obese or diabetic person stuffing their gob with a Krispy Kreme Double Bavarian Fudge doughnut, do you feel compelled to go up to them and upbraid them for their behaviour? How about the junkies coming out of the methadone clinic down the street? How come you don’t lecture them on their self-destructive lifestyle?” Why is it that cigarette smokers are free game, and who gave them the right to accost a perfect stranger for doing something that is (A), legal, and (B) not imposing anything on them? Believe me, In this instance cigarette smoking is actually **prolonging** human life, cause if I were to quit I might conceivably end up choking the breath of life out of these smug, supercillious, self-righteous little pricks. Thank you. Bizz. who **really, really** ought to quit ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/6 "2004-09-23T17:34:22Z")
> [@bizzwire](#): > > "If you see a morbidly obese or diabetic person stuffing their gob with a Krispy Kreme Double Bavarian Fudge doughnut, do you feel compelled to go up to them and upbraid them for their behaviour? Speaking as a diabetic: Yes, actually, people do that. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/7 "2004-09-23T17:37:17Z")
More to the point, I’m sick of the _entire advertising industry_ treating us like we’re morons. PSA’s got no monopoly on that. ---
**Author:** ![JayElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@JayElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayElle)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/8 "2004-09-23T17:44:15Z")
I hate the “that’s bad for you” comments, too. I try to be a considerate smoker. I don’t stand in doorways, near infants, or oxygen-tanked grandmothers. I will move far away from any group of people in order to not offend them with my smoke. Why is OK for folks to go out of their way ( or even, better, send their children) to where I am I am not bothering anyone, to inform me that I am BAD, BAD, BAD and what I’m doing is FILTHY and DISGUSTING. And why don’t I just quit? Anyway, I find those Truth PSAs to be somewhat PETAesque. The shock angle doesn’t encourage me to quit, it makes me want to light up another in spite and blow the smoke right at the TV screen (yes, I know all about cutting off your nose to spite your face - I didn’t say it was a _rational_ response). ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/9 "2004-09-23T18:24:11Z")
> [@JayElle](#): > > Anyway, I find those Truth PSAs to be somewhat PETAesque. The shock angle doesn’t encourage me to quit, it makes me want to light up another in spite and blow the smoke right at the TV screen (yes, I know all about cutting off your nose to spite your face - I didn’t say it was a _rational_ response). Well, I find smoking to be a somewhat pointless & digusting habit, though I don’t care if others smoke as long as it is not near me, but those Truth PSAs inspire the same irrational desire to start smoking in me as well. They have to be the least effective PSA’s yet produced by man. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/10 "2004-09-23T18:48:04Z")
> [@bizzwire](#): > > To the latter, I typically respond with a “Really? I was not aware of that,” delivered in a tone comprised of 50% sarcasm and 50% self-deprecating humor to let them know that their comment was incredibly stupid and they should shut their pie holes. “You know, second-hand smoke can kill.” “Not reliably.” ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/11 "2004-09-23T19:50:22Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > But these PSAs, they’ve got to go. I offer for your consideration the latest one here in California. We see a group of Big Tobacco executives having a board meeting. The CEO starts talking about their growth, and suddenly, a clone of the CEO pops out of his very chest, right around the third shirt button. The other men around the table (and they always are men, in these ads) also start spewing out clones. The clones themselves start having clones, and before you know it the room is jammed to the rafters with tobacco executives. At the end of the commercial they’re spilling out into the street, continuing to clone. The voiceover intones, “As they continue to grow, we continue to die”. Is it just me that made the connection that the executives were analogous to cancer cells growing and that the voiceover was the appropriate response to this rampant growth of executives? It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the commercial, but I thought there was a chest x-ray with a lung tumor in that same commercial towards the end. Can anyone verify? ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/12 "2004-09-23T21:29:37Z")
The cigarette companies, on the other hand, think you are morons who they can lure into trying their product, getting addicted to it, and paying them tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege of it all. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/13 "2004-09-23T22:02:50Z")
You still have to decide to light up, though. I don’t see how they can lure you into that, not when it’s been so long since I’ve seen any kind of cigarette ad anywhere. I don’t think there are billboards anymore in California. And cigarette machines are outlawed. How are the tobacco companies doing this ‘luring’? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/14 "2004-09-23T22:07:16Z")
> [@bluethree](#): > > The cigarette companies, on the other hand, think you are morons who they can lure into trying their product, getting addicted to it, and paying them tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege of it all. I’d object to their publicity in the same way as I do the state PSAs, but they don’t have any that I can find. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/15 "2004-09-23T22:15:32Z")
> [@bizzwire](#): > > To the former, I pose the question "If you see a morbidly obese or diabetic person stuffing their gob with a Krispy Kreme Double Bavarian Fudge doughnut, do you feel compelled to go up to them and upbraid them for their behaviour? Me personally? No. Have I witnessed other people chiding a diabetic for their excessive sugar consumption with a dire warning that they’re going to kill themselves if they keep on doing it? Yes indeed and more than once. I don’t blame the people who speak up, though, since she’s going to end up in a diabetic coma if she keeps on the way she’s going. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/16 "2004-09-23T22:51:16Z")
Given the damage smoker do to themselves, and given all the warnings, plus the fact that nearly all of us know someone who has had a smoking related disease, or know someone who has died of one, and given that it costs good money to put oneself in harms way like this, and that it is one of the most preventable causes of chronic illness, one wonders if smokers really are stupidand need stupid adverts to remind them of how stupid they are. We are all stupid one way or another, this is an obvious one, maybe we shouldn’t overeat, or maybe we should take more excercise as well, but I’'ll bet many Dopers do such stupid things and plenty others. ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/17 "2004-09-24T00:01:26Z")
> [@JayElle](#): > > Anyway, I find those Truth PSAs to be somewhat PETAesque. The shock angle doesn’t encourage me to quit, it makes me want to light up another in spite and blow the smoke right at the TV screen. Me too, and I quit smoking a few years ago. I don’t even know what it is exactly, but those ads (especially the TRUTH ads) just piss me off. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/18 "2004-09-24T00:29:33Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Me personally? No. Have I witnessed other people chiding a diabetic for their excessive sugar consumption with a dire warning that they’re going to kill themselves if they keep on doing it? Yes indeed and more than once. I don’t blame the people who speak up, though, since she’s going to end up in a diabetic coma if she keeps on the way she’s going. Are you assuming she _doesn’t already know that_? Honestly, save the damn lectures for people you at least _know_. Otherwise, you’re just coming across as a self-righteous busy body. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/19 "2004-09-24T00:35:21Z")
I’d venture to say that most smokers on the SDMB are probably considerate. Many smokers aren’t. Our condo association recently voted to ban smoking from the indoor common areas. A small area consisting of the hall, stairs, and laundry room. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here lately and yet I still see people standing in the stairwell smoking. There’s also one person who goes out of there way to turn the no smoking sound around and reattach it. Look, I know smokers are annoyed. I know they are probably upset about the probable bar and restaurant smoking ban. But, they were outvoted. There are NO restrictions on how much they can smoke inside their own unit. They can smoke anywhere outside on the grounds. I’m not being the second-hand smoke Nazi that I usually am on this one…yet. I’m going to give them a week or two more to calm down. However, childish behavior like this WILL end up with me bitching about the smokers to the board. Then, they can drag their ass outside in -20 degree weather and smoke to their heart’s content. But, I think this is why non-smokers act so rudely to smokers. The rude smokers ruin it for all. As far as the PSA’s go, they are usually stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704/20 "2004-09-24T00:35:48Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > For the record, I’m mostly a nonsmoker. Maybe a cigar once every six months, and very rarely a couple of cigarettes. Admit it. You are a smoker. And as such, you are a dirty, disgusting person. You need to be reminded of that fact as nausium. Just like I need to be remined I’m a drunk. Maybe someday we will both wise up. Hopefully before its too late. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-sick-of-anti-tobacco-psas-cause-they-think-were-morons/265704.md?page=2)