They’re the grossest pictures I’ve seen this side of a medical dictionary, I must admit.
The FDA is responding to brilliant studies – like the one that came out of Sam Walton School of Business (Walmart? That’s got to mean something). Interviewing 500 smokers, the researchers evidently showed that where cigarette warnings are concerned “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
The most graphic images, such as those showing severe mouth diseases, including disfigured, blackened and cancerous tissue, evoked fear about the consequences of smoking and thus influenced consumer intentions to quit.
“These results suggest that there appears to be little downside on intentions to quit from using extremely graphic pictorial depictions of the negative health outcomes due to smoking,” said Scot Burton, co-author of the study and marketing professor in the Sam M. Walton College of Business.
“Our research shows that strong, negative graphic imagery – and fear evoked from such imagery – influences smokers’ intentions to quit. We also found this to be the case even though recall of the written messages on package labels was reduced by the more graphic images. In other words, smokers were influenced primarily by the images and not by the written message.”
The researchers’ study will be published in the fall issue of the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. (ANI)
Tobacco companies are fighting the proposal, saying that having the hideous pictures on the top half of both the front and back of the pack (mandated) are going to make it hard to see their brand names. They’re worried that some day smokers may be saying, “Can I have two packs of radical tracheotomy and a pack of low birth weight?” Read more from Fox News
My guess is that adults will start buying little cigarette pack covers, rather than toss severe tooth loss onto the night club table.
But could it be also about the Kids? I know, the Kids are antsy because they want to see these really, really revolting pictures that we’re talking about. They can’t wait to see these pictures, these Kids, because they know the very sight of these pictures will deter them from smoking. Then they’d like to deter all their friends from smoking, too, by showing them the pictures. And maybe there’s this little Kid down the block that they love to freak out and he really, really needs to be deterred from smoking.
“Every day, almost 4,000 youth try a cigarette for the first time and 1,000 youth become regular, daily smokers,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “(The mandating of the gross pix) marks an important milestone in protecting our children and the health of the American public.”
That’s from the NY Daily News site that has THE BEST smoking deterring pictures anywhere.
Better than “Saw” and “Texas Chain Massacre” combined!
Enjoy! And remember – Don’t Smoke! (This means you, Kid!)
