Published February 15, 2007.Non-smokers (and militant ex smokers) just don't get it.

Okay, there is this ad about a kid who's father died as a result of smoking. It is supposed to get you to quit smoking. My girlfriend is a smoker, and I quit recently. We both had the exact same response to the ad. I need a smoke. I didn't give in to it, but it was a close thing. Why did we both react like that? I think it's because those ads are done from the perspective of a non-smoker, created by non-smokers and just have no empathy for the smokers. The worst ones were a series we had here in Halfiax where the stars of a stupid move (fubar) wandered around talking about smoking and reinforcing every stupid stereotype about smokers that is out there. I used to go out for a cigarrette every time those ads came on. There is one ad that actually has helped me, it is actually an ad for a nicotine patch (which I have not used during this quitting process). The ad shows a young airline stewardess talking about the last time she quit. Her interview is interspersed with shots of her freeking out at passengers and breaking down. The ad showed empathy, it showed me someone who was feeling what I was feeling, it offered support.

I really believe that all these quit smoking ads exist to make non-smokers feel better about their choices, not to reach smokers and help them. Every smoker I know has the same reaction to those ads, and the only ex smokers who react differently are the pricks that harrass you until you want to force feed them cigarrettes.

logic11 (Traverse)