TresSugar

Feds Want Cigarette Packets With Graphic Warnings

Susi May — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:15:59 PST

In case you didn't get the message: smoking cigarettes is dangerous for your health. Since a picture is worth a thousand ~~warnings~~ words, the Food and Drug Administration is proposing the placement of graphic images on cigarette packages. The agency hopes the grisly images - corpses, cancer patients, and diseased lungs - will deter people from smoking. Tobacco use is responsible for 443,000 deaths per year.

Although there has been a steady decline in smoking, from 40 percent in the 1970s to 20 percent now, the numbers are no longer falling. In a statement released today, the FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said, "The health consequences of smoking will be obvious every time someone picks up a pack of cigarettes."

The FDA has created 36 images to help the agency make sure its warnings have a visual, if not visceral impact. Here are 12 of the images. Take a look and let me know what you think.

View 12 Photos ›

Source: FDA

Mad Men: Cigarette Ads For Women

Colleen Barrett — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:25:15 PDT

In last night's episode of Mad Men, the partners of Sterling Draper Cooper Price exhale any chance of ever taking another tobacco client. Except for maybe an antismoking campaign?

But before their opportunity goes up in smoke, Don almost has a chance to pitch a cigarette brand targeted at women. It never happens, but it reminded me of all the wonderfully heinous tricks pulled through the years of gender-specific cigarette advertising. Here are highlights!

Some French Women Would Rather Smoke Than Get Fat

TresSugar — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:45:36 PDT

French women don't get fat, but you don't want to steal one of their secrets to staying slim. As more French men quit cigarettes, French women continue to light up, citing fears that quitting would lead to weight gain. Today, The Daily Beast explains, more French women die from lung cancer than ever before, and it may soon be their number one cause of death.

French antitobacco ads are targeting women, pointing them to a website that helps smokers gain less weight once they quit. The antismoking camp must fight decades of marketing to French women. Smoking used to be considered vulgar and unfeminine, but beginning in the 1940s, tobacco companies successfully sold cigarettes to women with language of emancipation and equality, much like they still do today.

Obesity is likely just as deadly as smoking, but quitting causes a person to gain only an average of four to nine pounds within a year of stopping. Plus, in an ironic twist, long-term smoking typically causes a person to gain weight over time. So putting out the smokes might make French women feel sexier in their lingerie anyway.

No Such Thing as "Social Smoking"

FitSugar — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:00:01 PDT

One cigarette a month may not feel like a habit, but it can still get you hooked on nicotine. That's according to a study of adolescent smokers published in Pediatrics, which suggests that teens' experimentation with the occasional cigarette can lead to a lifetime of addiction.

The four-year study started with 1,246 middle school students and found that those who smoked even one cigarette a month were likely to become hooked, suggesting that what feels like mere enjoyment can build into dependence. Kids may become addicted without even realizing it until they turn 18 and can buy their own. Says Joseph DiFranza, who helped author the study:

"What happens is when you first get addicted, one cigarette a month or one cigarette a week is enough to keep your addiction satisfied. But as time goes by, you have to smoke cigarettes more and more frequently. So people may be addicted for more than a year before they feel the need to smoke a cigarette every day."

Approximately one-quarter of the teens studied experienced withdrawal symptoms when trying to quit, just three or more years after starting. This news doesn't surprise me; in fact, it confirms what I've witnessed firsthand. What about you? Did you smoke as a teen or socially then find it hard to stop? I've got seven tips to help you quit if you need a hand.

How Tobacco Companies Get Women to Light Up

TresSugar — Fri, 28 May 2010 10:50:02 PDT

Could a bright and colorful package convince you to put your health at risk and smoke cigarettes? Tobacco companies sure hope so, as they shift their strategy to focus on young women in developing countries. Men make up 80 percent of the world's 1 billion smokers, so now it's time to move on to the ladies.

In addition to "feminine" packaging and flavored cigarettes, big tobacco uses themes like independence, sex appeal, slimness, and beauty in their marketing campaigns. That's quite ironic, considering smoking destroys your teeth, hair, nails, and skin, not to mention the fact that a killer addiction is the antithesis of independence.

The anticigarette camp also hopes packaging influences a person's decision to (not) smoke. In Europe, for example, packs of cigarettes are plastered with messages that say things like "smoking kills." And the UK has gone as far to show graphic images, including the corpse of a lung cancer victim, on all tobacco products. Unfortunately, in developing countries, tobacco is king of the persuasive packaging.

Surgeon General's Warning Gets Louder

FitSugar — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:00:37 PDT

Until recently, the health warnings on US tobacco products have been incredibly subtle compared to cigarette packs in Europe, which are often as blunt as "smoking kills." But thanks to the tobacco law passed last year, US advertising is catching up with bigger, bolder warnings on tobacco products.
The New York Times got its hands on a new ad for Snus smokeless tobacco (above), which follows new requirements that 20 percent of ad space must be occupied by the warning. Starting June 22, all smokeless tobacco products in the US will have to follow these advertising guidelines, and next year, they will apply to cigarette ads as well.

Australia is taking an even more extreme approach: there, the government wants to ban all brand logos and colors on cigarette boxes, leaving behind "only a few words and graphic warning images of shriveled, diseased lungs or gangrenous toes." What do you think about the proposed Aussie law versus the new US cigarette ads; do our regulations in this country go far enough?

Source: New York Times

Turn On or Turn Off? Smoking

TresSugar — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:00:22 PST

When done right, smoking can be a turn on for some. By right, I don't mean healthy, of course. I mean using the cigarette to gesture. To inhale with thought; exhale with contentment.

And it never hurts if it's onscreen, so smell is not an issue. Smell - and cancer - is smoking's great turn off. But is it enough to make the most pensive inhale a drag?

Flashback: Size Doesn't Matter?

TresSugar — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:00:00 PDT

The copy for this ad doesn't really make much sense. This scowling man says he doesn't care about the length of his cigarette, but then goes on to declare that Winston Super Kings give him the extra length he wants. So, maybe in the end size does matter? I'm confused.

Source

New Law Bans Flavored Cigarettes

FitSugar — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:30:35 PDT

The FDA sees flavored cigarettes as a gateway drug, encouraging children and young adults to become regular smokers. So a new federal law enacted this Summer, which bans the production, distribution, or sale of flavored cigarettes goes into effect today. This includes clove and candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes - anything but minty-fresh menthol. Tobacco companies enhance cigarettes with sweet flavors such as vanilla, berries, or chocolate to make them taste sweeter and more appealing to teens, which results in getting them hooked young.

This new law is an amendment to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The FDA is hoping they can target flavored cigars, chewing tobacco, and snuff as well.

Tobacco use causes 438,000 deaths a year, and studies show that smokers live an average of 14 years less than nonsmokers. About 90 percent of adult smokers started in their teens, so hopefully banning kid-friendly cigarettes will discourage the habit and prevent the deadly side effects.

Reality Check: Electronic Cigarettes Are Not So Healthy

FitSugar — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:00:29 PDT

Smoking regular cigarettes is known to cause a whole slew of health problems from asthma to emphysema and lung cancer. For some reason though, people keep smoking, so someone came up with the brilliant idea to make electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes.

These battery-powered electronic cigarettes provide inhaled doses of nicotine, although no flame, tobacco, or smoke is involved. E-cigs might give the impression of being healthier than regular cigarettes, but this illusion is mostly smoke and mirrors. When the FDA tested 19 varieties from two companies, they found toxic chemicals, one being a key ingredient in antifreeze. Why am I not surprised?

E-cigarettes aren't regulated like other nicotine products, so their ingredients aren't regulated either. They also tend to be easier for minors to get a hold of. Since some e-cigarettes were designed to mimic real cigarettes - you light them and smoke puffs, these electronic smokes are considered a gateway drug to actual cigarettes. The FDA is "planning additional activities" to deal with the safety of e-cigarettes, which may result in recalling them or taking lawful action. Tell me, have any of you ever tried electronic cigarettes? Do you think they should be banned?