"Mike Marlow" wrote:

Well - to answer that just from one perspective - they have had no
effect The ads to me serve only to satisfy the people who want to
believe they will have an effect - no other real effect on smokers.
But if it makes non-smokers feel better then at least they get to
feel good about them. Education - yes, it has probably had some
effect on a percentage of smokers and that is good. Social
movement - yes that too has had some effect on some percentage of
the smokers. But - I believe those benefts are done. The ads -
don't fool yourself - they only make people like you feel good. They
don't have an effect on the remaining population of smokers. Or
even future smokers. By this time we all know well enough the
health hazards and those ads are useless.

Not to argue a defense of smoking, because as I am a smoker, I think
the act is defensless. But - to fool yourself into thinking that
taxes and "education" and ads are going to have any great effect now
is kind of silly in my opinion. Education can have its place (IMHO)
in keeping younger people from starting but that's about as far as I
seeing it have any benefit these days.

Think about it Dave - who in this day and age does not know the
hazards of smoking? Those things won't work on that crop of
smokers. Will something else work? I don't know. I'd like to hope
so, but hanging on to tactics that had a marginal benefit at best
(the ads), is kind of pointless.
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Frankly Mike, as far as education is concerned, everybody who is 25 or
older is a
write off.

You accept the fact these people are probably going to die of some
form of
lung disease regardless of what is done to get them to stop smoking
and get
on with life.

No the target market is the 10-18 year old group and there is where a
real
turf war is going on with the tobacco companies.

A war that education forces are SLOWLY gaining ground.

It's going to require a saturation advertising campaign to defeat the
tobacco
companies and I have no problem at all forcing the tobacco companies
to pay
for their own defeat.

As far as your rights to smoke when ever and where ever you chose,
you have those rights as long as they don't foul the air I and other
non
smokers breathe.

When that happens, you no longer have the right to spew your tobacco
smoke where ever you choose.

Speaking as an ex-smoker (25+ years), stopping smoking is probably
the most difficult a human being will ever do, at least it was for me.

An ex-smoker who at one point or another in my life had a 2 pack a day
or a box of cigars a week or a pound of pipe tobacco a week habit and
all of which I inhaled, I can appreciate your addiction, but I don't
tolerate
it any more.

Today, I'm like stink on crap, when it comes to smoking.

I have no problem at all walking up to a complete stranger who is
smoking
and saying something like, "Aren't you're old enough to know better".

Very interesting the responses you get.

Lew