More graphic warning on Cigarretts boxes?

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Vrii

Vrii

So the continued stance amounts to "Hey, they obviously just don't realize it's unhealthy."

Brilliant.
 
C

Chibibar

Vrii said:
So the continued stance amounts to "Hey, they obviously just don't realize it's unhealthy."

Brilliant.
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That is what I'm thinking. It is not working cause people WANT to smoke. I just say increase the tax on it and reap the reward. Use the extra tax money to PAY for the medical bills that are "rising" in the millions and billions of dollars.
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

As a part time smoker, enough already with taxing the hell out of people with minor vices. All my tobacco products have nearly doubled in the last year.
 
Adam

Adam

Gotta remember, the people on this forum are (relatively) well educated, intelligent people. Which isn't who the images are targeted at.

A recent analysis of data from the ITC Four Country Survey compared the impact of the introduction of pictorial warnings in Australia in 2005 to that of the introduction of larger text-only warnings in the United Kingdom in 2003. Cognitive and behavioural indicators of label impact that are predictive of quit intentions and quit attempts (e.g. forgoing cigarettes because of the labels; thinking about the health risks of smoking) increased to a greater extent among smokers after the Australian pictorial warnings were introduced than they did in the United Kingdom after enhanced text-only warnings were introduced. Pictorial warnings are also cited by former smokers as an important factor in their attempt to quit and have been associated with increases in the use of effective cessation services, such as toll-free telephone “helplines”. Although all warnings are subject to wear-out over time, pictorial warnings have also been shown to sustain their effects longer than text-only warning labels.
Populations with low literacy rates

Pictorial warnings may be particularly important in communicating health information to populations with lower literacy rates. This is particularly important considering that, in most countries, smokers report lower levels of education than the rest of the population. Preliminary evidence also suggests that countries with pictorial warnings demonstrate fewer disparities in health knowledge across educational levels. It should be noted that particular care should be taken in the selection of pictures for use in low literacy populations: without supporting text, pictures of smoking could inadvertently suggest approval rather than warning of its harms.
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http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/8/09-069575/en/
 
C

Chibibar

Personally, if people want to smoke, let them, but if tax dollars are going into this project, might as well get something back from it.
 
Tress

Tress

Okay, I'll go ahead and say it: if you are so stupid that you don't already know smoking is bad for your health, then you deserve whatever smoking-related malady comes your way.
 
C

Chibibar

Gryfter said:
Who will need to buy a pack of cigarettes to see said ads. How many do you think will even notice the ad as they crack open a pack and light up?
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Most don't even read the EULA when they crack open the software. They just click ok and load.
Most don't even read the manual for most of the stuff they buy.
I don't see people actually reading the cig. they just open it and smoke.
 
M

makare

I thought that tax thing would work too but it doesn't. They raised the tax here in SD. My family spends hundreds a month on cigarettes. It pisses me off to no end. I get chewed out for spending thirty on frivolous things like, oh, food but if they spend 90 a week on cigarettes well THOSE are an essential.
 
C

Chibibar

makare said:
I thought that tax thing would work too but it doesn't. They raised the tax here in SD. My family spends hundreds a month on cigarettes. It pisses me off to no end. I get chewed out for spending thirty on frivolous things like, oh, food but if they spend 90 a week on cigarettes well THOSE are an essential.
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:confused:...... I'm baffled.
 
Adam

Adam

Gryfter said:
Who will need to buy a pack of cigarettes to see said ads. How many do you think will even notice the ad as they crack open a pack and light up?
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Again, actual studies say "More than the written kind".



It works. Studies show that it works (Actual verifiable science as opposed to "Derp derp, that's dumb and won't work." And the tobacco companies have to pay for it themselves (Tax money doesn't go towards it). I'm failing to see how this is a losing proposition.
 
C

Chibibar

So Tobacco are require to print material they have to use to reduce sales and lose money.
 
Vrii

Vrii

Adammon said:
I'm failing to see how this is a losing proposition.
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And that's fine, as far as it goes. There's obviously no harm going to come from it. But if the goal is to "cut the smoking rate among Americans almost in half by 2020" as the article claims, I sure hope they've got more planned.
 
Adam

Adam

Vrii said:
And that's fine, as far as it goes. There's obviously no harm going to come from it. But if the goal is to "cut the smoking rate among Americans almost in half by 2020" as the article claims, I sure hope they've got more planned.
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Well, technically half of the smokers will probably die by then, so, it's totally achievable ;)
Added at: 23:34
Chibibar said:
So Tobacco are require to print material they have to use to reduce sales and lose money.
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Yes.
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

Chibibar said:
I thought that tax thing would work too but it doesn't. They raised the tax here in SD. My family spends hundreds a month on cigarettes. It pisses me off to no end. I get chewed out for spending thirty on frivolous things like, oh, food but if they spend 90 a week on cigarettes well THOSE are an essential.
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:confused: ...... I'm baffled.
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Say hi to my friend, chemical addiction...
 
TommiR

TommiR

Chibibar said:
I thought that tax thing would work too but it doesn't. They raised the tax here in SD. My family spends hundreds a month on cigarettes. It pisses me off to no end. I get chewed out for spending thirty on frivolous things like, oh, food but if they spend 90 a week on cigarettes well THOSE are an essential.
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:confused:...... I'm baffled.
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I guess conventional wisdom holds that, the higher the price of cigarettes, the less people will buy and smoke them which is a good thing. But the people who do buy them (addicts) will have less money left over for things like food and clothes for their children, which is a bad thing.

This line has occasionally been put forward over here when they discuss raising alcohol taxes; that the overall consumption may perhaps go down (most people drinking in moderation and not having an alcohol problem), but the situation of the problem cases and their families will only get worse.
 
T

Tiq

There's a pretty nasty image being used on the packets over here now, of a guy who's neck has essentially exploded, but I can't say the picture has done anything to deter me from enjoying cigarettes.
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

Tiq said:
There's a pretty nasty image being used on the packets over here now, of a guy who's neck has essentially exploded, but I can't say the picture has done anything to deter me from enjoying cigarettes.
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Man, it's almost as if chemicals in your body have more effect then a picture...
 
Gared

Gared

You know, this is really starting to piss me off, so I hope you'll excuse me a bit while I rant some. As a smoker for 14 years, I know that there are people out there who genuinely enjoy smoking, but I also know that there is a large majority of us who are just fucking addicted to the drug nicotine and the extra chemicals that cigarette companies add in order to make it harder for us to stop buying their products. This attitude I've seen all over the place since these new warning labels were announced yesterday (even here, in this thread) that people will continue to smoke no matter what the government does to warn/tax us into quitting is complete and utter bullshit.

I've been smoking for 14 years. I've been wanting to quit for 10 of those 14, and actively trying to quit (cessation drugs like *Welbutrin and Chantix, the patch, the gum, the lozenge, e-Cigs, even therapy) for 4 years. I know what smoking is doing to my lungs, throat, and heart. I know that I'm putting myself and the woman I love at greater risk for cancer and other diseases by smoking. I know that it's harder to see through the windshield of my car because of the film of smoke residue on the inside of the glass. I know that I'm spending an inordinate amount of money every year on these damn things; and you know what? None of that fucking matters. I am addicted to this drug and struggling like a man possessed to get off of it. And what do I get? "If people want to do this, ugly pictures and higher taxes aren't going to make them quit."

You know what's going to make an addict quit? Effective rehab centers. You can go to a rehab center if you drink, if you're addicted to pain killers, or meth, or cocaine, or hell, even if you're addicted to sex. But I'm lucky to get an 800# that I can call if I have a craving (where I wait on hold, and have usually hung up and just had a damn smoke by the time someone answers) and a disgusting picture on a billboard or a cigarette pack. Showing people nasty pics isn't going to magically make the drug less addictive. Oh, and people constantly assuming that I'm smoking because I want to and that I don't care about the negative effects this has on my health.

I started smoking at 17 on a whim. I knew then what smoking can do to your health and body, but I didn't fully grasp the fact that I was starting a habit that I would be unable to just stop whenever I wanted. Now, 14 years later, I'm paying for that whim dearly. Please stop spreading this bullshit completely fucked up opinion that smokers don't want to quit or that taxing the product can make us think about our decision to be a smoker, or that showing us nasty ass pictures is going to change how we feel. Most of us want to quit, we just fucking can't.

/rant.
*It has a different name when it's prescribed for smoking cessation, but it's the same formulary as the anti-depressent.
 
strawman

strawman

Keep in mind that the graphic warnings are probably more effective at preventing new smokers from starting than to stop addicted smokers. I wonder if fewer people would try it "on a whim" if confronted with what they might look like in 30 years before opening it.
 
W

Wasabi Poptart

stienman said:
Keep in mind that the graphic warnings are probably more effective at preventing new smokers from starting than to stop addicted smokers. I wonder if fewer people would try it "on a whim" if confronted with what they might look like in 30 years before opening it.
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I don't know. From my own personal experience I would say no. I saw my great-aunts and great-uncles who smoked a pack or pack and a half a day. They were all on medications for chronic bronchitis, coughed like they should have to stuff their lungs back in when they were done, had really awful wrinkles, yellowed nails, etc. One of my great-aunts who never smoked died of lung cancer. I saw pictures of sliced open lungs and balloons with the insides coated in tobacco tar as part of my health class in school, too. It didn't stop me from picking up a pack of my Aunt Doris's Eve cigarettes and lighting up when I was 12 or so.
 
Adam

Adam

Wasabi Poptart said:
I don't know. From my own personal experience I would say no. I saw my great-aunts and great-uncles who smoked a pack or pack and a half a day. They were all on medications for chronic bronchitis, coughed like they should have to stuff their lungs back in when they were done, had really awful wrinkles, yellowed nails, etc. One of my great-aunts who never smoked died of lung cancer. I saw pictures of sliced open lungs and balloons with the insides coated in tobacco tar as part of my health class in school, too. It didn't stop me from picking up a pack of my Aunt Doris's Eve cigarettes and lighting up when I was 12 or so.
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Would that not have been before the images on the cigarette packs? Immediacy factors a lot into decisions like that. I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a dual lobectomy.
 
W

Wasabi Poptart

That was quite a few years before anyone thought of putting pictures on packs of cigarettes. But since I could see the consequences first hand you'd think I would have been dissuaded from trying cigarettes. If we put pictures of car crashes on bottles of alcohol, do you think it would keep anyone from drinking and driving? I doubt it.
 
Gared

Gared

@Li3n said:
I don't know, i've seen people give it up for months at a time and then go back to it until health issues forced them to quit...
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Speaking for myself, the reason this happens to me is because, like any true addiction, even after you quit actively smoking you will be addicted to the drug until the day you die. Which means, one cigarette on a stressful day can be the end of a good quit record. I've gone a month or more several times, and I keep getting dragged back down (you know, I tried to finish that sentence without it being a pun, but I couldn't). I always think "One cigarette/pack won't be a problem, I'll just quit again right after," but it never works out that way. It's like they tell recovering alcoholics. Even one drink can completely derail your recovery, because you'll always be addicted to the actual substance.
 
Cajungal

Cajungal

Staff member
My aunt tells me that she still gets cravings for cigarettes. She's 50, and she quit when she was around 25. :\
 
W

Wasabi Poptart

In November it'll be 9 years since I quit. I still find myself wanting a cigarette when I am stressed out. Like Gared said, I know if I have just one cigarette I'll be out buying a pack in no time. I can't allow myself to do that. Sometimes it's really difficult to see the packs behind the counter at a store and just walk away when part of my brain is screaming like a child having a temper tantrum for just one drag.
 
Mathias

Mathias

Am I an odd duck when it comes to cigarettes? I'll smoke a pack like every year or year and a half without any cravings what-so-ever. In college, I went through a pack a week, smoking socially, but it was completely correlated to going out drinking. I never really had a craving for them, it was more of a habitual thing - something to fiddle with while at the bar. I don't need a cigarette to get through the day or get my fix; when I'm offered one, I'll light up. My cigarette count for 2011 so far has been like 10 total and one cigar.

Personally, I prefer to roll my own cigarettes if given the chance. My sister rolls her own tobacco, grown locally. No additives or weird chemicals, just the dried plant. It's actually pretty awesome, similar to a good cigar. She's very much the same way I am about it though. Her and her husband have a 2 oz bag of tobacco a farmer gave her in like 2008.

As far as the scare tactics go. Yeah, it works well with teenagers, which are the group that really should be monitored from getting hooked early on. There are studies that link chain smoking to how early you start.
 
Shakey

Shakey

These new labels aren't there to stop everybody, they're there to stop at least a few. Which I'm sure they'll accomplish, so I don't see why anyone should be upset about it. The tobacco companies are paying for it, so who the hell cares.

Personally I like a pipe full of good tobacco maybe once every few months. I never got addicted, and would never be able to smoke full time. I never really got the appeal of cigarettes. They smell like ass compared to pipe tobacco. To each his own I guess.
 
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