# You want the truth? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 12, 2000, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132 "2000-12-12T03:25:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RoboDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbe5ce/32.png) [@RoboDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoboDude)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/1 "2000-12-12T03:25:09Z")
I know tobacco is bad for you and all, but these “the Truth” ads have gotten out of hand. First of all, it’s not as if you take up smoking and wake up the next morning with a fatal tumor. While it may not take long for the carbon monoxide to start hurting your athletic performance, it takes decades for any smoking related disease to appear. Second, these guys give “Big Tobacco” far more blame than they actually deserve. People have been smoking tobacco long before medical science really understood what emphysema and cancer were. By the time the dangers of smoking became common knowledge, the tobacco companies were already well established, and people were smoking despite researchers said. Are they saying that the tobacco companies should have disbanded? If they did, someone else would have just filled the void. They never sought to give people diseases, they were just satisfying a demand. Not to mention the fact that their ads do a piss-poor job of actually describing the dangers of smoking. Is it too much trouble to be more specific than “smoking kills”? Conclusion: Those arrogant, self-righteous bastards can take their campaign and SHOVE IT! They’d probably do a lot more good if they honestly talked about what tobacco does to your body, but nooooooo. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/2 "2000-12-12T03:33:14Z")
Arguaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’ Must not feed, must not feed… ::::::;; this is a form of feeding :::::::: ;;;;;; sob ;;;;;;;;;;;; [[[[[[I am a faliure]]]]]]]]]] 3½¢ He could no longer rend his foes limb from limb. He could not eat solid food ---
**Author:** ![DavisMcDavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@DavisMcDavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavisMcDavis)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/3 "2000-12-12T06:11:55Z")
I think the ads might be more effective if they blamed “tobacco” instead of “big tobacco.” ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/4 "2000-12-12T07:53:19Z")
The Truth ads were GREAT in their original inception… remember 'Splode? Damn, that was some funny shit!!! But now… I think everyone knows that cigarrettes aren’t exactly healthy. Do we really need to have it shoved down our throats every day? I’m just curious as to how these Truth commercials are financed… ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/5 "2000-12-12T08:10:05Z")
They are financed with the money from the settlement of that huge lawsuit all the states’ attorneys general brought against the tobacco companies. From what I gathered from someone NPR interviewed, those commercials are pretty much in direct violation of the settlement agreement, which says that the money can be used to fund education programs, but not to demonize the tobacco companies, or something to that effect. ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/6 "2000-12-12T10:15:20Z")
Hm. Upon perusal of the actual [settlement](http://www.naag.org/tobac/index.html), I feel I must amend my earlier statement (that is to say, “flip-flop”) somewhat. I believe that the following excerpt, from the section of the settlement on the establishment of a National Public Education Fund, is what the woman interviewed on NPR was talking about: > [@](#): > > The National Public Education Fund shall be used only for public education and advertising regarding the addictiveness, health effects, and social costs related to the use of tobacco products and shall not be used for any personal attack on, or vilification of, any person (whether by name or business affiliation), company, or governmental agency, whether individually or collectively. The Truth campaign, which is funded by the National Public Education Fund, would be subject to this part of the settlement. The Truth commercials, though, don’t vilify any specific person, company, or governmental agency. They vilify tobacco companies in general, which seems not to have been proscribed, even if it is sort of in bad faith (at least to me). ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/7 "2000-12-12T10:18:42Z")
Unless that “collectively” at the end means they can’t do exactly what they’re doing. Shit. I’m going to bed. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/8 "2000-12-12T12:04:34Z")
[Leary] You could have cigarettes that come in a black pack, with a skull and a cross bone on the front, called tumors and smokers would be lined up around the block going, “I can’t wait to get my hands on these fucking things! I bet you get a tumor as soon as you light up! Numm Numm Numm Numm Numm”. [/Leary] ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/9 "2000-12-12T13:52:11Z")
And don’t forget that these lovely leprechauns have been ignoring the actual REASON that kids smoke. I’ve been a smoker since I was 12. I’m now 31. Why did I first light up? 1. I wanted to be a Cowboy. 2. LS/MFT can also stand for "Loose Straps/Mean Floppy Tits. 3. Hi, Opal! 4. A camel with a face that looks like a penis told me to. 5. None of the above. That’s right, Truth! I started smoking because (drum roll please) **I wanted to hang out with the bad-ass kids and my parents told me that I shouldn’t smoke!** Just like 95% of all smokers who started puffing when they were teenagers. News flash! Teens are punks. I was a punk, and the kids today make my teen years look like summer camp. Kids will do what you tell them not to _because_ you tell them not to. You want to keep kids from smoking? Lock them in an airtight room with a carton of Chesterfields and don’t let them out until they’ve all been smoked. The little shit will never smoke again. At least until they go to college. Thanks, Robo. I’ve been waiting for a “rip these bastards a new one” thread, I just haven’t had the stones to start it. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/10 "2000-12-12T13:56:33Z")
Hey Coldfire, > [@](#): > > You could have cigarettes that come in a black pack, with a skull and a cross bone on the front, called tumors … Don’t you get Death brand cigarettes in NL? They’re made in the UK by the Enlightened Toabcco Company. They’re in a black box with a skull and crossbones and they were quite popular a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/11 "2000-12-12T14:30:49Z")
Yeah, those are still available here, TomH. They tend to make a nice party gift for a smoker, especially when the giver is a caring family member that actually wants the receiver to quit. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/12 "2000-12-12T19:56:19Z")
Except that Death smokes are VERY popular with the folks who want to give the big hearty “fuck you” to the non-smoking masses. Kind of an “Oh, I shouldn’t smoke? Watch this!” kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![RoboDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbe5ce/32.png) [@RoboDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoboDude)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-the-truth-you-cant-handle-the-truth/45132/13 "2000-12-13T04:57:52Z")
You know, [http://www.thetruth.com](http://www.thetruth.com) has its own message board. Maybe some of you could personally let them know what you think.