It’s well known to all of my friends or family that I am very anti-smoking, but I’m at odds with the new anti-tobacco tactics that are to be put into effect September of 2012. In the most aggressive anti-tobacco effort since the surgeon general's warning became mandatory on cigarette packaging in 1965, the FDA said Tuesday it will begin requiring tobacco marketers to cover the top half of cigarette boxes and 20% of tobacco advertisements with nine bluntly graphic anti-smoking images.
Does the new requirement that all tobacco products display graphic and admittedly disturbing photos on their products go too far? We are a capitalist society; doesn’t big tobacco have a right to market and sell their product, however unhealthy?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a staunch supporter or banning smoking in public places, especially places near children, but I still think that the consumption of tobacco products is a personal choice, and that as long as it’s done away from me, my baby, and other non-smokers, it’s none of my business. Imagine if the government mandated that Ben & Jerry’s started putting pictures of fat stomachs or butts on the packaging for ice cream? Or that Coca Cola products must now include a warning label that consumption may lead to obesity, and that the warning must cover 20% of the can? We are already bombarded with calorie counts on menus in restaurants and fast food joints- do we really need more reminders of the unhealthy choices we make? Don’t we all know by now that tobacco is bad for us, and that ice cream makes us fat? (Lord knows those calorie counts that ruined eating at the cheesecake factory for me forever…)
It’s a very slippery slope when the government regulations are allowed to run rampant in a free market society. I’m not sure this is the best route to reduce smoking; I much prefer banning smoking in public places, especially bars and restaurants, and hope that the trend reaches all 50 states. I couldn’t go out at ALL in Louisiana because the bars were so smoky.
The new labels are gnarly. I agree with their message, but I don’t think it’s constitutional for the government to mandate that they be placed on tobacco products.
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ReplyDeleteI have not done the research to say that I have factual basis for my opinion, but I am not sure what kills more, obesity or cancer caused by smoking cigarettes. Now we both know that I like to smoke when I have been drinking, but I think these images would give me the push I would need to never buy again. And hopefully, this will do the same for others. If I had to choose a campaign of taking away all fast food and over processed foods in order to stop obesity or stop smoking to stop health issues associated with it, I would much rather cut out all processed food and fast food. I find that I am actually more addicted to eating than I am smoking. :(
ReplyDelete-Krystle