What was all the fuss about? What was the need for embargoes? It turns out the Simon Clark’s expected big anti-tobacco scare is nothing more than an advert campaign. So PHE (Public Health England) is going to run some gruesome, inaccurate, pretend videos about someone rolling a cig with rotting human flesh instead of tobacco. Nice one, PHE! I’ll bet that will scare the living daylights out of smokers throughout the land.
Oh, but wait…. It’s ‘for the children’, isn’t it? But, surely, such gruesome videos must be shown after the watershed? Oh, wait…. The ‘children’ involved are 17 – 24 year olds. Ah…. Well, that’s OK then.
Anyone who wants to see the ad can do so here:
I see that the Chief Medical Officer has been roped in to make it seem that the advert is factual. I wonder if she realises that she has been so used? I was particularly impressed by her claim that ‘some people think that rollups are not as bad as manufactured cigarettes’. Erm… Why should that be? Could it be that the Zealots used to bang on and on about ‘additives’? Eh? Dame Sally should be apologising for making false allegations about tobacco company additives, especially substances like saltpetre (to make cigs burn down more quickly) and ammonia (to addict people). Most people are probably going to rollups for cost reasons, but who can blame those people who are afraid of the additives? Because of the Tobacco Control Industry’s propaganda, it has become a ‘universally recognised truth’ that tobacco companies are deliberately killing smokers by using additives. Bastards!
This new advert follows previous obscenities, like dirty blood, tumour growing on cigarette, mutation ever 15 seconds, and take seven steps out. They seem to be becoming more and more outrageous and unlikely year by year. It seems to be clear that the Zealots have not read the ‘study’ which showed that such exaggerated fearmongering has the opposite effect of that intended – people switch off. Their minds do not accept such warnings. The warnings are counter-productive.
For example, imagine a ‘public service’ advert appearing on TV in early summer about swimming in the sea. Suppose that advert showed a family playing about on the edge of the sea. Suppose a voice over said words to the effect, “Take care when bathing in the sea. Sometimes, there can be hidden undercurrents. Just have your wits about you when you do so”. OK. Silly though such advice might seem, people might remember it and, indeed, take a little more care.But suppose that the advert talked about hidden dangers, and then went on to show someone being dragged kicking and screaming beneath the waves, and ripped to pieces by sharks? Even the most gullible would find such a statement to be stupid regarding the waters around the UK – and, they would immediately put it out of their minds.
Much the same applies to these adverts in recent years. The more improbable they are, the sooner they are put out of mind.
I’ll tell you what. E-cig retailers are missing a trick here. They should find out the schedule for these ads and follow them with ecig ads! Don’t worry about what the Advertising Standards Authority say. By the time they get round to doing anything, the message will have been driven home. The ‘gullibility market’ is wide open.
Bolton Smokers Club 
30/12/2014 at 01:10
I have done this on your blog before and I realise that it is not good practice, but I feel that the essence of my own blog is so close to your own and backs up what you say i am posting the link here. I will fully understand if you decide to take it down and apologise in advance.
30/12/2014 at 01:37
No objection at all, Robert. Sometimes spam links appear, but wordpress seems to be very good at extracting them. Occasionally, one gets through, and if it is clearly some sort of advert, then I have no hesitation in deleting it.
Your thinking about the effect of warnings is much more detailed and complex than mine. Certainly, I believe that the people who create these anti-smoking ads know full well that the effects will countered by human nature. But why should they let on to the likes of Arnott? To Arnott, these ads are perfect. She does not really know the psychology. But even she must have an idea of the adverse affect. Really, it is the politicians who are most ignorant. But they love throwing taxpayer monies away. It just makes them feel good.
30/12/2014 at 08:39
Thank you, not just for allowing the link, but for the logic and power of your writing which helps, not just me I bet, but everyone to continue in our battle for the freedoms to which we are entitled.