Image via WikipediaFreak Week: Blowing Smoke; The FDA's supposedly tougher warning labels for cigarette packs are just a total drag
Original author: Tim Nudd
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I'm just going to give you straight opinion on this one. These proposed graphic cigarette "warning labels" are ridiculous with a capital 'R.'
That doesn't mean I'm an advocate for smoking--far from it, in fact. I freely admit that I was a former smoker, though only for about a year, and since I've quit, I'm adamant that others should do the same.
But, these proposed labels make me laugh more than they discourage me from smoking. The ads are almost comical. One depicts a woman blowing smoke into her baby's face. Clearly, that's not accepted, but, I mean, really? Who does that?
It's nonsensical and just downright dumb. Nearly one in five Americans today smokes, and that's not okay. Nearly 500,000 Americans die from Tobacco related deaths each year--also not okay.
I'm happy the FDA is attempting to do something to curb smoking in America. But, this isn't the right approach. These so-called "graphic" ads aren't going to deter a 17-year old from trying to be cool.
Graphic ads need to be just that. Show the real, genuine horrors that smoking cigarettes causes, not a lame, nearly unrealistic, picture.
Why not just put pictures of actual cancers cause on the cartons as the rest of the world does?
- Preston McClellan
