Truth Ads. I hate them as much as any man can hate any commercial. For those of you fortunate enough to live in an area where these are not aired (where do you live, I will pay rent) these are the standard anti-smoking ads. At first, they were simple, "Just say no" and "It's not healthy." They've now become such pretentious snotlings that they think the best way to get their message across is through a little song and dance about underweight babies. They seem to live for the chance to bash big tobacco every chance they get. They also portray tobacco companies as being out not to make money like any other business, but a group of people bent on nothing else than the complete and utter destruction of the worlds lungs.

And now an intermission while I explain where I'm coming from. My Grandparents, Uncle, Aunt, and several friends smoke/smoked. I don't. I tried it, didn't like it, didn't feel like I was getting anything out of it. My grandmother died a year before I was born because of lung cancer. My uncle died when I was about 10, heart attack. Both were a result of smoking. Do I blame them? Well, harsh as it sounds, yes. They knew that smoking caused a health risk, I mean it's right there on the label. Do I blame tobacco companies, no, not really. It's not like they shoved the cigarettes into their mouths and forced them.

These pricks at Truth seem to be under the impression that we are all smoking our lives away, blindfolded by the evil shenanigans of Marlboro and Winston, waiting to be liberated by the benevolent wisdom of their righteous glory. I want to know when it became popular to remove individual fault and blaming the corporation whose product you enjoyed so much became the trend. It's not just tobacco either, there's the people suing McDonald's because they're fat and crap like that making me think I'm the last person with any sense of responsibility left.

Tobacco companies do have a history of rather agresive marketing ciggarets to kids you know.

I enjoyed those commercials much more when there was a tone of seriousness to them. The singing, dancing, and cute animated characters of the recent commercials just makes the message seem silly.

I work in a store that sells tobacco. We don't sell to minors. The only way a kid could get something is through an adult, who would be knowingly breaking the law. Also, throughout my childhood I have rarely seen a tobacco product or ad aimed, marketed, or suggested in any place a kid would see it.

Its not just the people-its the media, the politics and the whole society. Nobody is responsible for anything anymore, its always "the others" fault. Who benefits from this? Insure companies, lawyers and corrupt politicians.

I think it all comes down to the lawsuits -- it all started going downhill (to my memory) when that woman sued McDonalds for spilling coffee on herself "because it was hot" and didn't say so, that essentially due to asinine lawsuits, we have to be treated like children now. But more generally, you can thank good ol' Political Correctness for the public's inability to take any responsibility for their own actions anymore.

HuCast:
Mostly the latter. America (and I wager other countries too, but America's political system makes it very obvious) has a very wealthy and influential tabbacco lobby going. Much like the gun lobby. Loads of large businesses tossing money and expense trips around, connecting people and thereby creating career short-cuts and the like, it's a very tempting trap indeed. All you need to do is vote against and for on a couple of bills per year.

I used to smoke, I quit about a year ago. Now, do I blame the tobacco companies for making me smoke? No, I choose to smoke, they didn't came banging on my door, put a gun to my head, and force a cigarette into my mouth.

And, I'm sorry, but those commercials are a load of hoarse crap. Yes, we all know smoking is bad...it's right there on the damn pack, however if I still choose to smoke, leave me the hell alone. I don't need you and your crap dancing around my TV while I'm trying to watch South Park telling me how I'm slowly killing myself. The last time I checked suicide wasn't illegal...

Lastly, stupid people need to stop suing other peopled for illness caused by their stupidity...nuff said.

Europe has a anti-smoking ad i quite enjoyed, which shows typical smoking scenes, like teenagers smoking in the toilet of their school, but instead of cigarettes they use those whistles that unroll a bag of paper when you blow them (not sure how they are called). I like the way how it approaches the subject of smoking, you put something weird into your mouth without any actual reason but feel cool for it.

While I am in favor of Non-Smoking in Public places (it's YOUR choice to smoke, not mine, you have no right to make my decision for me) I figure people should be allowed to kill themselves should they so desire.

Recently here in Calgary, they've just banned the display of tobacco products, which makes me feel bad for classy humidor joints that sell cigars and pipes and stuff. I mean, telling people "YOU CANNOT SMOKE" seems a little overkill and a litte facist.

panthrjd:
I think it all comes down to the lawsuits -- it all started going downhill (to my memory) when that woman sued McDonalds for spilling coffee on herself "because it was hot" and didn't say so, that essentially due to asinine lawsuits, we have to be treated like children now. But more generally, you can thank good ol' Political Correctness for the public's inability to take any responsibility for their own actions anymore.

You do know that that coffee was, like, 30 degrees hotter than the coffee you'd typically get at a diner, right? (McDonald's did this -- not sure if they still do -- because they wanted the coffee to stay hot longer.) The old woman sued them because she sustained serious burns to 10 or 20 percent of her body and needed major hospital care -- not something that should happen if you just spill a bit of your beverage on yourself; now, her choice of clothing (sweat pants) didn't help, because it soaked it up and trapped it against her skin.

The whole goddamn point of the lawsuit wasn't "Are you liable for me spilling coffee on myself?" but "Was your coffee unreasonably hot for a carry-out beverage in the first place?"

-- Alex

Wesker_Chick:
The last time I checked suicide wasn't illegal...

Not trying to poke fun here or anything, but suicide is actually illegal in many many places throughout the world.. perhaps the majority. It is an interesting legal / philosophical point.

bunkymag:

Wesker_Chick:
The last time I checked suicide wasn't illegal...

Not trying to poke fun here or anything, but suicide is actually illegal in many many places throughout the world.. perhaps the majority. It is an interesting legal / philosophical point.

Probably the easiest crime to get away with though...

bunkymag:

Wesker_Chick:
The last time I checked suicide wasn't illegal...

Not trying to poke fun here or anything, but suicide is actually illegal in many many places throughout the world.. perhaps the majority. It is an interesting legal / philosophical point.

"If you commit suicide, you will be executed."

A little on topic, a little off.

I was smoking a fag down at my local bus stop the other day, something I do regularly whilst waiting for the 222, when a mother and her whelp came and sat down next to me. Being the kind man that I am, I decided to finish my cigarette away from the pair, knowing that a majority of people consider second hand smoke to be nasty - ESPECIALLY mothers and children.

However, as I began to stand up, the mother whispered something to her kid, and the two began fake coughing dramatically, looking at me all the while. As if they were expecting me to get on my knees and fucking apologise. All right, I get it, I am an evil, horrible person who is knowingly poisoning people (including myself) and the environment with my vices, but that does not give you the right to bloody patronise me in public.

Whatever happened to just asking politely? I would have left regardless. However, after they pulled that shit, I just decided to stay where I sat, and let them cough their throats raw.

Exterminatus:
A little on topic, a little off.

I was smoking a fag down at my local bus stop the other day

First off, I think I'm becoming a little dyslexic because at first I read that as "I was a smoking fag..." very different meaning.

Second when people pull crap like that, I usually start doing it just to piss them off. Maybe I'm just a douche like that.

OP, while I am very VERY anti-smoking, I say some of the blame does fall to Tobacco companies, but much of the blame actually rests on hollywood. In our parents & grandparents' time, it was movies and TV shows that marketed smoking as "cool". Also, blame the government for never having banned it.

Khell_Sennet:
OP, while I am very VERY anti-smoking, I say some of the blame does fall to Tobacco companies, but much of the blame actually rests on hollywood. In our parents & grandparents' time, it was movies and TV shows that marketed smoking as "cool". Also, blame the government for never having banned it.

To me the government has regulated smoking as far as they need to (At least here in the states) when they said you had to be 18 to buy a pack of cigarettes. Other than that I think they need to keep their noses out of the publics business. As I said, I used to smoke, and many recent changes in smoking laws piss me off event though they no longer effect me.

Prohibiting smoking in public (ie resturaunts, bars, bowling alleys) is going too far. It should be the establishment's descsion as to whether they want patrons smoking or not. People who smoke are being treated like second hand citizens, which isn't right no matter how you feel on the subject.

As for banning smoking...well we all know how well prohibition worked...

Haliwali:

Exterminatus:
A little on topic, a little off.

I was smoking a fag down at my local bus stop the other day

First off, I think I'm becoming a little dyslexic because at first I read that as "I was a smoking fag..." very different meaning.

Second when people pull crap like that, I usually start doing it just to piss them off. Maybe I'm just a douche like that.

Seconded to both points. People being assholes should be treated to second-hand smoke at best. And yes, those Truth adverts are as asinine as anything on television. Which is quite an accomplishment, really, as there's so much competition.

The whole smoking/anti-smoking culture is weird. I tried it of course as a teenager, and it was like sucking on a tailpipe. Why would I choose to "get used to" something that's like sucking on a tailpipe? And I saw a woman interviewed on television who claimed she would wake up in the middle of the night if her neighbor, about a hundred meters away, lit up a cigarette even if both houses had their windows closed. WTF? It's like the very concept of smoking makes people insane.

I've a friend who's a heavy smoker and also a very big Democrat. We're in a restaurant one day (in the smoking section because he smokes throughout his meal and I neither smoke nor am I particularly bothered by smoke) and he's telling me how evil Republicans are (common theme) and I mentioned that the Democratic governor had recently announced his intention to ban smoking in all public places, including bars and restaurants. His response was "Great - I wish they would just make it illegal." The idea that someone would choose to do something and yet hope the government would make him stop doing it, just blows me away.

EDIT: Amen Wesker_Chick. If the government doesn't trust us to decide whether or not to smoke, why would we assume it will trust us with anything important? (Corollary to the McDonald's lawsuit axiom that if we're not responsible for where we eat lunch, we're not responsible for anything.) And if the government steps in and says you can't allow smoking in your own business establishment or home, what other rules can it establish?

Exterminatus:
However, as I began to stand up, the mother whispered something to her kid, and the two began fake coughing dramatically, looking at me all the while. As if they were expecting me to get on my knees and fucking apologise. All right, I get it, I am an evil, horrible person who is knowingly poisoning people (including myself) and the environment with my vices, but that does not give you the right to bloody patronise me in public.

Whatever happened to just asking politely? I would have left regardless. However, after they pulled that shit, I just decided to stay where I sat, and let them cough their throats raw.

I'd have gone a step further and blown the smoke in their direction. That type of behavior isn't called for and is just plain rude. Nobody knows how to ask politely anymore.

Now, along the lines of people acting like pricks, I work at McDonald's. Ha ha, yes, I'm a fast food employee. The one I work at is the cleanest fast food place in town, always passes health inspections with flying colors, etc. while all the other places in town have recently been close to failing. (The only reason the Hardee's in town didn't get shut down is because they carted all their dirty equipment off in the manager's truck. I worked there at one point too, so I can imagine that happening)
Now, I get to deal with all of my friends complaining when I go to work about how bad the food there is for you and all that. I'm getting so sick and tired of it because not a damn one of them has a right to complain. They talk about how it makes you fat and clogs your arteries, basically the same arguments that the people who sue the company use. Guess what precious, it's your own damn fault if you eat this food so much that you get fat. If all you do is sit at home then drive up to McDonald's to eat, you're going to gain weight.
I've actually heard somebody who was sitting IN THE RESTARAUNT talking about how McDonald's shouldn't be allowed to serve the sandwich she was eating because of how many calories it had.

Then the obese people who complain about smokers.

I don't know how I've lasted so long without punching somebody.

I think I may have accidentally reported someone when I refreshed the page. No idea who it was, but please disregard it.

I despise those Truth ads. They've just gotten worse and worse. The ones with that dorky looking guy with the big glasses were the worst.

Well, the shock-and-awe truth ads of smoking may be getting to some (including myself), but I have to say that there's no lack of truth in the same type of ads about Railroad safety, or making way in traffic for Emergency Services.
It makes me very annoyed when people neglect the fact that flashing lights and loud noises mean that they're trying save lives, not slow you down for umpteen 5 seconds.

we get it. Don't smoke. But shut up already you're quoting big tobacco execs from he 60's and 80's, they're probably dead already and what the fuck is with those singing cartoons?

Seeing how I have severe Asthma; I feel that I have a special right to be pissy at smokers. Ya' know, punch them if I'm stuck in a line in front of them (if they won't put the damn thing out). But this is a SPECIAL privilege. Bitches don't be getting my privilege. Especially bitches who act like bitches.

Spleeni:
Seeing how I have severe Asthma; I feel that I have a special right to be pissy at smokers. Ya' know, punch them if I'm stuck in a line in front of them (if they won't put the damn thing out). But this is a SPECIAL privilege. Bitches don't be getting my privilege. Especially bitches who act like bitches.

Heck just asking politely works well enough. Mentioning you have asthma will probably get the worst chainsmoker to stub it out.
Me, I don't really mind smoke to much.

I do not smoke. My mother, however, does, and being a woman of the North-East of England (read: formidable/impressive/utterly terrifying when angered.) she will regularly vent her rage upon any individual, organisation or group that attempts to curtail her pleasure.

Personally, having tried the damn things I've come to the conclusion that the old bat's a bit insane, but since she's my mother she could exterminate the entire population of the Middle east and I wouldn't bat an eyelid. (I might applaud though- stop all those damn terror attacks).

What I don't get is why smoking in public is banned. Second hand smoke does not kill . When you can provide any real evidence it does, I will most likely take it onboard by dropping the tax on cigarettes by half, so to curtail the population problems. But that's another story. Banning smoking in bars, resteraunts and pubs was as pitiful a manuevere by the goverment as banning the drinking of alcohol. Yes, there is no need for people to drink, and it damages their health (and frequently that of others around them) but quite frankly, it clearly aids the darwinnian preassures of society by weeding out members of the population, and more to the point, needlessly curtails the pleasures and liberties of a section of the population in favour of another, because they are whiny bitches.

I suppose it's like that knock off Nigel advert, makes everything sound funny, almost makes it fun to pirate*. Here it is BTW---> http://youtube.com/watch?v=GlhdK5Yl8u0

*It was just a joke I do not actually pirate, for the love of god don't ban me again!

EDIT: What is so good about smoking, I dont, and do not intend to, what is the big deal about smoking, please explain to me.

Spleeni:
Seeing how I have severe Asthma; I feel that I have a special right to be pissy at smokers. Ya' know, punch them if I'm stuck in a line in front of them (if they won't put the damn thing out). But this is a SPECIAL privilege. Bitches don't be getting my privilege. Especially bitches who act like bitches.

Speaking as someone who used to smoke, and dear god don't take this the wrong way, but responses like this used to piss me off to no end when I did smoke.

If I was around people/friends who didn't smoke, I would move off to the side so my smoking wouldn't bother them. Hell my husband doesn't smoke and when I still did smoke, I used to go outside MY OWN home to smoke so it wouldn't both him.

My point is there are a lot of us that are/were very polite when we smoked around others. However if I was in a public place which allowed smoking and someone decided to be a giant douche about it...well then I turned into a royal bitch.

Of course I have met the asshole smokers too...they're just as bad as the extreme non-smoker...

To Fondont - Amen...

As with almost anything. Make me the Emperor of the World, and all will be better.

Seriously though... I am against smoking. I hate it. I hate the smell. I hate the fact that most places I go to are dirtier due to smokers, and I have burn holes in my furniture and one of my favorite jackets even though I don't smoke because EVERY smoker at one point in time will burn SOMETHING. (reply as you will, but I have not met a single one who has not.) My father died of lung cancer, my mother is on her way to it, and my fiance smokes like a chimney too.
That said, I totally back up Big Tobacco in their drive to be rich. Also, I totally back up all of our rights to choose to smoke (sorry California). I hate it but a whole lot of people don't. That's as it should be.
Those ads annoy me too, but only because I hate people that tell us what we should and shouldn't do.

HuCast:
Its not just the people-its the media, the politics and the whole society. Nobody is responsible for anything anymore, its always "the others" fault. Who benefits from this? Insure companies, lawyers and corrupt politicians.

Hit the nail on the head. And you know, it is someone's right to throw thier health away and smoke, because I'm pretty sure that everyone one with half a brain knows that smoking is very bad for you. However, your bad health and second hand smoke does effect me. If you lived a healthier life (no smokeing) insurance rates wouldn't be so damn high and our heal care system wouldn't be bogged down with idots intentionally poisoning themselves.

And yes, the tobacco companies to have a measure of responsibility. Unlike McDonalds or pot, nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs on the planet. Meth is uber adictive and life threatening, nicotine just happens to be legal. Big tobacco is no different from a mech dealer.

Im a smoker and i know damn well when im in the hospital with lung cancer i'll have no one to blame but myself

thedrop2zer0:
I enjoyed those commercials much more when there was a tone of seriousness to them. The singing, dancing, and cute animated characters of the recent commercials just makes the message seem silly.

It used to be: 'Don't smoke, it's not good for your health!'
Now apparantly the message degenerated into: 'Don't smoke. Boo! Ha ha! Gotcha! Aren't I awesome? But don't smoke, oh no!'