Cut Your Smoking With Anti Smoking Advertisements
Dear Health Conscious Friend,
Anti smoking advertisements do not work or do they? That is the question under consideration in the United States. Seemingly odd is the fact that more and more young people have taken to the habit of smoking tobacco. What was becoming so “taboo” has found a new population to latch onto the deadly habit.
My daughter saw a couple early teenish girls outside Meijer food stores smoking. These “kids” had the latest fashions on…mid drif bearing shirts, hot pants, and over sized sunglasses. What she said to me almost shocked me. She said “Daddy those are COOL girls”. I asked why were “they” so cool.
Alexandra told me about the clothes, the glasses, the profanity they uttered as we passed and then she said “they even smoke cigarettes.”
I didn’t know just how I was going to handle this one. After thinking a moment I reminded her of the little old lady that was walking across the street lugging along an oxygen tank that we just stopped for. She remembered. Great. I said in a matter or years, maybe 10 or 15, that those COOL girls would be young but their bodies would be diseased with smokers lungs, COPD and possibly cancer.
That image stuck in the mind of my daughter…when she sees someone smoking she’ll say to my wife and I that those people are killing themselves.
This little real life story from my 12 year old is exactly the approach that many anti smoking advertisements try to portray. They take the tack of talking about the damage you are inflicting upon your lungs. For may people this works but for many others it does not.
Another approach I’ve witnessed lately is the Economic Punch. That is it shows in mathematical and somewhat comical ways what it actually costs to smoke. Now all things considered it does not delve into the hospitalizations, emergency room visits and the whole health care costs angle. But instead it tallies up what a pack a day really costs you in cash out of your budget.
Now what is really clever about this approach is that it talks about the alternative things that could be done with the money spent on smoking. As far as effective, these anti smoking advertisements really pack a punch. Here’s why?
Most people would love to take a vacation holiday to Jamaica. For a family of three including airfare and staying at the beautiful Holiday Inn Sun Spree Resort Jamaica will run you $1800 as of today. We just booked our family vacation there.
So, a pack a day habit when the smokes cost $5 per pack is $1825. Wow! You see how powerful that is? This by far is a good approach to the anti smoking ad campaigns.
Anti smoking ads of this nature take on a rather preventative nature. It is effective at reducing and eliminating the glitz and glamour from smoking. But to kids, they may have to give the toll of what they are giving up in terms of college, Art School tuition etc. Just making a blanket ad and expecting results without niching it to specific populations is futile.
Todd D. Lloyd is a consumer health advocate publisher of the best eLetter about smoking cessation. You can view his blog about quit smoking hypnosis and products that really work for you now.
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