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Shocking pictures on tobacco packs illegal

Aug 25, 2012#1

Bubble181

Because of the First Amendment. Haven't seen an English source on this yet, so sorry for a lack of linky...
Federal Court of Appeals in Washington has decided (2 to 1) that obligating tobacco companies to put "shocking" pictures on cigarette packs is against their freedom of speech. Strict facts and info can be made mandatory, but those pictures go beyond "consumer information".

Because the Founding Fathers clearly meant corporations selling hard drugs shouldn't at least say "hey, this'll kill you" on the pack.

Aug 25, 2012#2

Ravenpoe

Did those pictures even work? Must smokers I know, upon seeing a diseased lung, would just shrug their shoulders and light up another one.

Aug 25, 2012#3

Bubble181

Ravenpoe said:
Did those pictures even work? Must smokers I know, upon seeing a diseased lung, would just shrug their shoulders and light up another one.

Well, no, I don't think so

Than again, how many people who want to buy sweets look at them and go "whoa, too many calories, I'll put them back!".
Argument works both ways - I wouldn't want to buy jelly beans with pictures of an overly obese person on them, either

It's just hard(er) to properly convey the message "this shit will fuck up your lungs, your reproductive system, your health, and your teeth" without pictures, I guess.
I do remember reading in a newspaper somewhere about a study* that showed the ones with text messages about "tobacco will lower the quality of your sperm", "tobacco use can lead to impotence", "tobacco use can cause fertility issues" and those with pictures of breasts ruined by lung cancer surgery, limp penises with caption of "tobacco causes erectile dysfunction" and such to have a much stronger effect than those with more general warnings about lower life expectancy, lung issues, and the like.
Belgian ciigarette packs almost all have warnings relating one way or another to sex because of that. People don't care if they get yellow teeth, they do care if they can't score

*[needs citation]

Aug 25, 2012#4

Covar

Bubble181 said:
corporations selling hard drugs shouldn't at least say "hey, this'll kill you" on the pack.

They do. It's called the Surgeon General's Warning.

Aug 25, 2012#5

Zappit

The only sure fire way to actually get people to stop smoking is not in written warnings, not in shocking pictures, nor does it lie in years of scientific research that has proven how it rots your body.

It will take a cultural shift. Some new, truly negative connection that doesn't necessarily make sense. If the media would portray tobacco in a way that people begin to associate it with something evil and negative, like pedophilia, people will put down the pack.

I'll start it off. Jerry Sandusky liked to light up after raping young boys. That's why his teeth are so yellow.

See - that's not very difficult.

Aug 25, 2012#6

Ravenpoe

I actually know very few people my age that smoke. There's a big generational gap there.

Not saying young people don't smoke, just that among my peers, smoking is rare.

Aug 25, 2012#7

Tress

Smoking is down, but not that much. It's going to take a while for that cultural shift.

Aug 25, 2012#8

Silent Bob

Zappit said:
The only sure fire way to actually get people to stop smoking is not in written warnings, not in shocking pictures, nor does it lie in years of scientific research that has proven how it rots your body.

It will take a cultural shift. Some new, truly negative connection that doesn't necessarily make sense. If the media would portray tobacco in a way that people begin to associate it with something evil and negative, like pedophilia, people will put down the pack.

I'll start it off. Jerry Sandusky liked to light up after raping young boys. That's why his teeth are so yellow.

See - that's not very difficult.

Tobacco by itself isn't all that horrible for you. It's all the garbage that cigarette companies put in to make it burn slower that's horrible. Either way I don't condone smoking as even with straight cut tobacco, it's not healthy.

Aug 25, 2012#9

Bowielee

as a smoker, you could put aborted fetuses and vivisected puppies on the pack, and that would not in any way effect my habits.

Aug 25, 2012#10

AshburnerX

Yeah, most people I know don't smoke anymore ether and I only knew a few kids that did during school. Generally speaking, the media has done a great job of not portraying smoking as something young, hip, cool people do and it's had an effect. It's just not going to have a SIGNIFICANT effect until the Boomer and Gen-X generations die off because they grew up doing it and it's hard as hell to quit.

Aug 25, 2012#11

Zappit

Silent Bob said:
Tobacco by itself isn't all that horrible for you. It's all the garbage that cigarette companies put in to make it burn slower that's horrible. Either way I don't condone smoking as even with straight cut tobacco, it's not healthy.

Yep, and highlighting all those chemicals like arsenic and urea hasn't had that much of an impact. If you tell people they're inhaling piss and rat poison, they don't bat an eye. It's slowly becoming a generational practice that will erode with each new generation to come along.

I still think my association idea could be just the ticket.

Hell, in some states, due to the taxes on cigarettes, packs are encroaching on the $10 mark. That still had minimal impact.

Aug 25, 2012#12

Frank

Everyone I know smokes. Well, almost everyone. It really makes a guy feel left out at the bar.

Aug 25, 2012#13

Silent Bob

AshburnerX said:
Yeah, most people I know don't smoke anymore ether and I only knew a few kids that did during school. Generally speaking, the media has done a great job of not portraying smoking as something young, hip, cool people do and it's had an effect. It's just not going to have a SIGNIFICANT effect until the Boomer and Gen-X generations die off because they grew up doing it and it's hard as hell to quit.

I think they vilified it more than anything. It seems like smoking makes you the boogyman if you're younger.

Aug 25, 2012#14

Thread Necromancer

As a smoker (trying to quit, just, not succeeding very well) I know well the pictures that are on packs from when I've traveled and had to buy cigarettes in foreign places. Two or three of the twenty cigarettes in that pack I might pause an extra second to think I should quit while looking at the picture. The rest of the time, I lit up faster so that I didn't even look at the pack. I haven't even looked at the surgeon general's warning on my own packs in the last few years.

Aug 25, 2012#15

AshburnerX

I honestly want to market a brand of unfiltered cigarettes that come in a pitch black package with a skull and crossbones on it. Make the paper on the cigarettes black too. Call them Coffin Nails. Then make them cheaper than every other brand on the market.

Just to see if anyone would buy them.

Aug 25, 2012#16

Ravenpoe

AshburnerX said:
Then make them cheaper than every other brand on the market.

Best selling brand in record time.

Aug 26, 2012#17

Bowielee

AshburnerX said:
I honestly want to market a brand of unfiltered cigarettes that come in a pitch black package with a skull and crossbones on it. Make the paper on the cigarettes black too. Call them Coffin Nails. Then make them cheaper than every other brand on the market.

Just to see if anyone would buy them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_(cigarette)

Aug 26, 2012#18

Bubble181

AshburnerX said:
I honestly want to market a brand of unfiltered cigarettes that come in a pitch black package with a skull and crossbones on it. Make the paper on the cigarettes black too. Call them Coffin Nails. Then make them cheaper than every other brand on the market.

Just to see if anyone would buy them.

You'll have to hurry, because in some countries the idea is being thrown around to force all brands of cigarettes to be sold in exactly the same packs, with only a small title on top in a mandatory font noting the brand. All packs looking alike (and an ugly hospital greenish to boot) is supposed to make them even less "cool". Eh.

Aug 27, 2012#19

Necronic

If you haven't seen the film Thank You For Smoking you really should go out today and get it and watch it.

Aug 27, 2012#20

blotsfan

Bubble181 said:
You'll have to hurry, because in some countries the idea is being thrown around to force all brands of cigarettes to be sold in exactly the same packs, with only a small title on top in a mandatory font noting the brand. All packs looking alike (and an ugly hospital greenish to boot) is supposed to make them even less "cool". Eh.

As a non smoker who had to pick out cigarettes by brand for customers I hate that idea. I could barely tell what type they were before.

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