You know what? I smoke. And you know what else? I know it’s bad for me. I know cigarette smoke smells bad. I know I am running a greater risk of contracting numerous diseases due to my habit. But you know what else? I don’t care. I choose to smoke. I am a polite smoker. When it’s bothering someone, I put it out. But I will not be forced, through fear propaganda, to stop. If verified medical statistics have not stopped me, some do-gooding college kid with a beard and a fake rat is not going to stop me.
I reserve the right to smoke. And every single time I see a thetruth.com ad, I light up. In fact, I’m smoking right now. And I like it.
So fuck you, thetruth.com. Fuck you straight up the rectum and into your abdominal cavity, where with luck a raging infection will take root, and you will die screaming and writhing in a pool of your own filth.
Fuck you, idealistic trust-fund babies, out to save the world. Fuck you until your mother cries. Fuck you and your college campus mentality, your student-life-center propagandizing. Fuck you and your sign-toting ‘shock tactics.’ You are neither clever nor original, and I sincerely hope that all of you will contract botulism.
Smokers stink, smoker’s cloths stink, the areas that smoker’s hang out in stink, smoker’s houses stink, and when smoker’s come into your house, your house stinks for quite some time afterwards too.
The walls in resturants that smoker’s inhabit stink, the restrooms used by smoker’s stink, smoker’s STINK, period.
If you do not care about your own life, why should anybody else?
Hell, you know what? Worlds a small place, lots of people. Smoking is such a horribly inefficient way to kill yourself, really, it is. Slow and all that, often times painful too. How about you just do us all a favor and take some high grade poison and kill yourself off nice and quick like?
I mean think about it, it is really the responsible thing to do. If you do not care about your life worth a shit, then mine as well end it. After all, plenty of other people in this world who DO want to live need food, and shelter, and clothing, and all of the other resources that you are just taking up by sitting there.
So hey, go on, commit suicide today, hell, you actually already are, just look at this is a bit more of a direct path to the same ends.
If you don’t give a shit about your life, why bother?
(the alternative argument being that smoking is irresponsible since it can often times end up consuming vast quantifies of resources in the resulting cancer treatments and other treatments needed in medical problems that are caused by smoking. )
I’ve been to clubs and restaurants with a ground-in smoke smell, but I’ve apparently been fortunate enough to meet smokers of the class whobathe and use detergent.
Since the health nazis are jumping on the bandwagon to twist that around to ban McDonalds, lets just drop that argument before it starts.
And the only ads dumber than Truth* are by JEL, aka Just Eliminate Lies, Iowa’s own mini-Truth*, but so pathetic that you just want to shoot your TV and move to Yap.
I know at least five people who have started to smoke because of the Truth ads. Hell, I was almost one of 'em.
Face it, Chuckles, anal-retentiveness and self-righteousness is NOT the way to get their information across. The Truth ads are just about as dishonest as the Tobacco companies ever were… just because they’ve jumped on the PC bandwagon, that somehow makes it better?
Not only that, but water can kill you if you inhale it. Further, if it gets on the brakes of your car, it can reduce their effectiveness. And not only that, but traces of water have been found in cancers in the human body!
Clearly, water is the greatest threat to life on Earth and must be eliminated.
I read somewhere not too long ago that a recent poll showed thetruth ads were remarkably ineffective.
Funny enough, the ads that feature “Lumpy” (I can’t remember who sponsors them) actually work. That’s 'cause those ads tell kids that their breath is gonna stink, girls (and boys) won’t wanna kiss them, they’ll be broke, their teeth’ll be nasty yellow, etc.
I did a happy little “take that, thetruth!” dance when I read that one. Unfortunately, I can’t for the life of me remember where I read that or when it was, so I can’t provide a cite and therefore can’t provide concrete evidence, dagnabbit.
Keep in mind that this study was paid for by the same foundation that produces the ads. However, there are no other studies of the efficacy of the “truth” ads that I’m aware of.
Which to the more conspiratorially-minded among us may bring up this scenario:
The lawsuit settlement requires Tobaccorp to fund a mega-bux campaign against smoking…
-…so they fund the group that showed up with the most annoying, self-defeating proposal.
Thing is, I think that these ads are targeting teenagers, not adults. And their basic message is this, near as I can tell:
This, as compared to the message of ads put out by the tobacco companies themselves:
Given the target audience, I’d guess that TheTruth ads are effective. Sure, they exaggerate. They use misleading statistics. They demonize their opposiiton. They use all sorts of propaganda tools. They simplify the health risks.
But I bet they’re effective with their target audience.
Daniel
Crap. I think that’s the one I was reading. Which only begs the question: what the hell was I smoking?!? And, apparently, have been smoking since I read the goddamned thing?
Huh. Mea culpa. My apologies to anyone who read my previous post.
Exactly. We could have a reasonable debate about whether it’s “OK” to mislead, use sloppy science or use “over the top” techniques to communicate the message, but I think that Daniel is right about the target audience.
Contrast the truth ads with the Philip Morris “just say no” ads and consider which ads might be received more favorably by the target audience of teens. In spite of the selective anecdotal stories here (oh gee weez, I ran out and bought a carton of Camels to protest these ads ), I suspect that they make more an impact than other types of ads.
FWIW…I think a better alternative is what is done in my state. The “Just Eliminate Lies” campaign has billboards that direct the viewer to their web site.
As much as I hate smoking, I have to agree. The Truth ads are fucking obnoxious, and I’m sure if some independent group did a study, they’d find a rise in smoking since the airing of those ads.
Although I do suspect that the tobacco companies are making these ads as horrible as possible, just to make non-smoking look bad.
