The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

just look at her

look how glamorous this ad makes smoking look. If you're going to show a before picture of a smoker, try not to have her looking like a cross between angelina jolie and ava gardner at her most sultry.

and even the 'after' shot doesn't have her doing something cool and sexy despite giving up smoking. She's riding a fucking motorbike for christ's sake. You can't smoke while riding a motorbike, it's just not possible.

All that ad does is make me want to smoke so I can hang out with her. And I don't even smoke for fuck's sake.

[ian.64]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

That's been on for years now, but, yes, it's a load of old pony. Besides, it's flogging the cautionary line that the glamour that smoking exudes has its dangers, which everyone sort of twigged decades back.

It ain't easy putting the risks of chuffing away into two minutes, but the above is as lame-arsed an attempt by any standard.

[Guest]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

'Willpower required' always makes me chuckle...

[ian.64]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

I kept thinking about nicotine patches. If nicotine patches can help stop smoking, where are alcohol patches to help the chug-happy alkie? Or food patches to assist the porky in refusing their indulgencies?

Or common sense patches to stop you being an dickhead 24/7? Well, I'd need 'em..

[Guest]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

totally agree with all the comments but its a fact that sex sells products.dont know if you have seen the new virgin ad but its made me want to buy a flight with them.big style!

[Guest]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

Nicotine gum and that is like weight watchers. it doesn't work because if it did it would be a shite business model. I know plenty of people who are addicted to the gum 5 years on etc.

[ian.64]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

Giallorosso: Seen it. I can't say that it's made me want to head for the travel agents, but it's made me yearn for the pleasures of a Wimpy burger. Even the sight of a pudgy gentleman getting sauce all down his shirt has not dispelled the wistful need for that dearly-departed greasy-fingered treat.

[My PC has just become as slow as fuck, hence the cross-posting. Sorry, Lyra.]

[Incandenza]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

I've always wondered if nicotine patches and gum provide for nonsmokers what smokers seem to like about cigarettes without the disgusting smoke and smell. Is there some sort of nicotine buzz that these provide? I've always imagined some sort of Steven Wright-esque line about wanting to start smoking, but wanting to start out slow, with a patch or gum, and then working up to cigarettes.

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

ian.64 wrote:

Giallorosso: Seen it. I can't say that it's made me want to head for the travel agents, but it's made me yearn for the pleasures of a Wimpy burger. Even the sight of a pudgy gentleman getting sauce all down his shirt has not dispelled the wistful need for that dearly-departed greasy-fingered treat.

[My PC has just become as slow as fuck, hence the cross-posting. Sorry, Lyra.]

Wimpy are still very much alive Ian - you have to hunt them down though. It's a semi-regular visit for me when I'm in Huddersfield for the football.

[Taylor]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

There is no nicotine buzz, not after years of smoking. What there is: a buzz from satiating the body's need for nicotine. It's just addiction.

The only time I enjoy a cigarette now is after a meal, after sex, or when I'm drunk. The rest of the time, I don't enjoy it and I fucking resent it.

[ian.64]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

Cavalry: Bloody hell, didn't know that. I'd thought they'd been wiped off the face of the earth, Woolworth-style, and the Virgin ad gives the impression that it's slipped away into the ether of the past.

Huddersfield would be quite a stretch to stuff my face with such meaty goodness, though.

[ian.64]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

I've just Googled: there's one in Birmingham (slaps forehead). I'll visit on Saturday - I've laid off the drink and kept crap food to a minimum these past three weeks. I'm due a treat.

Anyway, nicotine patches, pros and cons. You may continue.

[David Agnew]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

Taylor wrote:

There is no nicotine buzz, not after years of smoking. What there is: a buzz from satiating the body's need for nicotine. It's just addiction.

There is a buzz from the chewing gum, if you're smoking at the same time.

At the end of the day, the only way to truly give up is willpower. Or, in my case, being unable to walk for a fortnight.

[My Name Is Ian]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

There's a Wimpy in Worthing. They still sell hamburgers in brown bread buns. "This", I thought to myself as I walked past it the other day, "is some serious shit". I might go in there and order a "Bender". Not to eat, of course. To examine, and maybe prod.

Anyway, yeah, smoking is shit. Nicotine patches do work pretty well, though. They take the "nghhh, nghhh" edge off it. But they're no good unless you actually, really want to give up.

[Taylor]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

Save money on Nicorette gum by simply chewing ordinary gum while smoking a cigarette.

The Nicorette "inhalator" is OK, I suppose, in that it gives you something to do with your hands and mouth. The problem is you don't get any kind of draw from it, and it gives you a horrible sore throat. It does stop you wanting to smoke, but by overloading you with nicotine to the point where you feel like you've been up all night writing an article and chain-smoking - that clogged, queasy feeling of "I can't even look at another cigarette." Which is hardly pleasant in itself.

I have to give up soon, though. The doctor reckons I've done irreparable damage to my chest already, and that if I keep smoking I'll be dragging an oxygen cylinder around with me in five years. Already, I can barely breathe, and have constant chest pains and tightness. Unfortunately my stress levels have been cripplingly high, pretty much permanently, since I came off antidepressants, and smoking is the only thing that keeps me together - the idea of that stress increasing with cig withdrawal, and me having nothing with which to combat it, is terrifying. If it wasn't for that, I'd have given up some time ago. Pretty shitty choice to have to make, though. Sooner rather than later, I hope, it will come home to me that in fact, it's not actually a choice.

The mother of my son suggested printing out lots of pictures of his smiling face, and pasting one to the front of each new packet of fags. If all else fails, I might have to try that. My God, it's depressing.

Anyone got any REALLY INSPIRING AND POSITIVE tales of what they now call "smoking cessation"?

[garcia]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

taylor, i dunno if you've ever come across allen carr's giving up smoking book - i would suggest it is worth a read. there's something slightly embarrassing about submitting yourself to this kind of self-help book, but it's worked for me and my girlfriend, and we were both very heavy smokers.

for some reason, understanding the health implications doesn't help you stop smoking. knowledge of what awaits fills you with a nameless dread, sure, but it doesn't affect the desire to smoke. i'm a type 1 diabetic and continued to smoke heavily for six years after diagnosis - utter madness. all the usual smoking horrors speeded up, plus the near-certainty of blindness, amputations, renal collapse... a doctor told me i'd be impotent by my mid-30s - and yet i continued to smoke for nearly two more years.

i suppose what finally enabled me to stop was accepting that cigarettes are not important, that they bring no real pleasure, and that i am not depriving myself of something precious by not smoking them. obviously it doesn't feel that way when you are smoking because you are constantly experiencing the relaxation of sating your nicotine cravings, so you just have to break that cycle. it doesn't take that long.

the first few days after stopping are hard with frequent cravings. fortunately they only last a couple of minutes so it's a matter of ignoring them until they subside. it does help to keep busy so you don't dwell on it.

after a few days most of the cravings are gone - it's surprising how quickly it happens. you'll still experience them occasionally because of the physical habit of smoking you've built up - waiting for a bus, sitting down with a coffee etc - but all you ever have to do is deny yourself for a couple of minutes and then it's gone and you have forgotten about it and are thinking about something else.

after a couple of months you don't get any cravings any more. instead you will occasionally be seized with a mad idea: since it was so easy to give up smoking, you can have one now and not smoke any more, like one of those people who only smokes when they're drinking. it's important to ignore this too.

i can understand your worries about withdrawal driving you up the wall, but it's easier than you think. the withdrawal is not a continuous world of pain, it's a series of manageable irritations and it only lasts a couple of weeks. i used to worry that i wouldn't have any peace without being able to smoke, but in fact you just forget you used to do it.

the biggest danger is when you smoke weed and the tobacco in the spliff reawakens your nicotine cravings. you mightn't start smoking again immediately, but you start smoking a hell of a lot of weed. then you are rolling up weed-free "spliffs" on the basis that they could have weed in them. then when your teeth start to yellow from all the rollies you've been smoking you go back on the cigarettes. that has done for me in the past so this time i'm looking at pipes, herbal mixtures etc. sad but necessary.

[Taylor]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

Cheers for that, it's always good to hear another success story. This recurring "easier than you think" business pleases me. And yeah, one of those wazzy little pipes might be on the cards for me too.

I've actually been given that Allan Carr book, but I've been too scared to read it yet. It's in a safe place, waiting for the moment. I think the moment's getting pretty damn close, though.

I've got to that stage where I don't take cigarettes out with me when I go to the shops or the gym, so waiting for buses is not a problem, at least (in fact, drifting smoke from other people's fags makes me feel physically sick). It struck me that when I'm in an environment where I can't smoke (the tube, a train, my mother's house) I barely think about it, and can happily do all the things I usually need a cigarette for, like reading, chatting, even looking at the internet, for hours on end, cig-free - so I decided to brainwash myself into thinking of "out of doors" as one of those no-smoking zones. Amazingly, it worked.

I sit in my freezing front room with a big window open, because I can't bear the fug. Even then, when I pop out to the shop, then walk back into my stale, smoky room, the stench turns my stomach. I've started breaking the ends off cigarettes, so I don't end up smoking as much tobacco. This with the price of a pack pushing six quid, and me in penury. This nonsense has to end, doesn't it?

I've just lit a cigarette, by the way. Well - half a cigarette. I am a dick.

[Reed John]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

Large parts of the USA are almost completely smoke free. Maybe you should pop over here for a few months.

[ad hoc]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

I took this picture outside my flat a few months ago. It is an anti-smoking ad.

http://szekely.blogspot.com/2008/09/smoking.html

[ian.64]

The world's least convincing anti-smoking ad

Blimey. I think the objective is to wean men off smoking by getting them to wank prodigiously. Your eyesight may become affected but your lungs will be all the better for it.