Deadly Persuasion | The Advertising of Tobacco

In the 2003 presentation, Deadly Persuasion: The Advertising of Alcohol & Tobacco, Jean Kilbourne exposes the manipulative marketing strategies and tactics used by the tobacco and alcohol industries to keep Americans hooked on their dangerous products.

Illustrating her analysis with hundreds of advertising examples from mainstream and trade sources, Kilbourne presents a compelling argument that these cynical industries have a clear and deep understanding of the psychology of addiction, an understanding they exploit to create and feed a life-threatening dependency on their products.

Deadly Persuasion casts a critical eye on the corporate interests that lie behind the industries whose products kill more than 450,000 Americans each year.

Secondhand Smoke Isn't Funny

It's not funny. Think about how your secondhand smoke affects others you selfish bastard.


Anti Smoking PSA from Joel B. Goodman on Vimeo.

Who's Pulling Your Strings?

Could big tobacco be pulling your strings? It's certainly not the people who care about you.


Source: Berthereau

Skyf - The Movie

Called Skyf, the South African film is about nicotine addiction. Here's the trailer -



Producer Thapelo Mokoena and writer and director Lungelo Mdlalose of Easy Sundays Production have chosen a sublime yet just as dangerous substance in their film about addiction - nicotine.

Rather than come in with some hard-hitting substance addiction like heroin or alcohol, the two young filmmakers are tackling the insidious nature of addiction by the smallest decisions we make as addicts.

Explains Mdlalose: “The story is about addiction and how, in one day, because you can’t control your addiction, by the time you go to sleep you will have a totally different life. It’s about the choices you make.” Scheduled for release, April 1st.

Source: IOL: Tonight and Skyf The Movie

Parents Lead By Example

You can say anything you want, but it's what you do, that's important to your children.

The Courage To Be Free

It was an affair she would soon regret. She wanted to call it quits, but he would never let her go. One woman's story about obsession and addiction, and her determination to be free.


Source: Pennsylvanians Determined to Quit and 2 Popes Film

Give It Up For St. Patrick's Day

In the Republic of Ireland, Ash Wednesday is National No Smoking Day.

That date was chosen because quitting smoking ties in with giving up luxury for Lent. So, if you haven't yet given up smoking for Lent, how about giving it up for St. Patrick's Day?


Source: Irish Cancer Society

Smoke Free's Effect On Businesses

I live in a State that went smoke-free a few years ago.

Of course, at that time there was a big uproar from bar and restaurant owners, because they bought into the bullshit spouted by Libertarians, addicted smokers, and the sinister tobacco industry. Many of those establishments thought that being smoke-free would negatively impact their businesses, and some fought it tooth and nail.

So, I decided to keep an eye on a local sports bar that I sometime frequent to see just how "bad" their business might be hit by being smoke-free. It's been a couple of years now, and guess what? Just the opposite has occurred.

This sports bar hasn't done anything different that it's done before the ban, but since the ban was instituted, it looks to me like their business has more than doubled. That place has been packed every day of the week for as long as I can remember, and it's happening during a BAD ECONOMY!

As a matter of fact, business has been TOO good. Although I drive by this sports bar at least once daily, I've only visited it a couple of times in the past year or two because it's too damn crowded. It's become too hard to find a place to park, to find an empty booth, and to deal with the crowds.

Ironic, isn't it? All of that effort spent by those businesses in their fight against a smoking ban that eventually turned out to improve their numbers and boost their bottom line.

So, what's the likely reason behind the increase in their business traffic after being forced to become a smoke-free establishment? I think the Wisconsin bar owners in the following video say it best -

Customers who avoided bars and restaurants because of the cigarette smoke, are now coming back because of the smoke-free atmosphere.


Source: Wisconsin is Better Smoke-Free

Quit And Get Fit

Having difficulty quitting smoking? What if you decided to replace that dumb Marlboro in your hand with a dumbbell instead? You could not only quit smoking, but you could also get fit at the same time. Sounds like a good plan, huh?

Quit & Get Fit is based on scientific studies that demonstrate how physical activity, and even deep breathing exercises, can help reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms, and can also assist in curbing possible post-quitting weight gain. Physical activity can even help reduce cigarette consumption for those unwilling to or unable to quit.

So, what are you waiting for? Get in the game and leave the pack behind!

Sticking Your Neck Out For Nicotine

It's only the drug delivery device that's different between you and the rat.

Kick Butts Day 2011

It's March 2011 and Kick Butts Day is back, with new opportunities to take action against tobacco!

Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States and around the world.

Tobacco killed one hundred million people worldwide in the 20th century — and if current trends continue, it will kill one billion people in the 21st century.

Every year, tobacco kills more than 400,000 Americans and more than five million people worldwide.

Did you know that more deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined? The vast majority started smoking as children.

So, let's do something about it.

On March 23, 2011, thousands of youth in every state and around the world will STAND OUT ... SPEAK UP ... and SEIZE CONTROL AGAINST BIG TOBACCO.

Last year, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids celebrated Kick Butts Day with more than 1,000 events across the country. This year they are looking forward to an even bigger and better Kick Butts Day!

Become a part of the campaign. The 2011 Kick Butts Day website has a great activity guide, with many new events and tips on making your Kick Butts Day event a celebrated success!!!

Suck It Up!

You didn't want anyone to confront you and interfere with your nicotine addiction. It was your choice to continue, and this is the consequence. You got what you wanted, so suck it up!


Source: Smoke Free NY

You've Come A Long Way Baby

Ladies, you've come a long way to get where you are today. You've got your own cigarette now baby, you've come a long, long way. But, just in case you want to ditch this brand of highly-addictive cigarettes, there's one sure fire way to kick the habit - a nicotine patch.

That's right, with these specialty cigarettes shown in the video, a nicotine patch has proven itself to be 100% effective in women smokers when used correctly. So, when the day finally arrives for you to decide that it's time to kick the habit, place one patch daily directly over your vagina, and in almost no time, watch your addiction disappear.


Source: Christine Ferrera

Is This Really You?

It could easily be you in only 15-20 pack years of continued smoking.

Is Smoking Making You A Monster?

Come between and smoker and her cigarettes and you'll find out soon enough, pardner.

Who's Blowing Smoke Up Your Ass?

I think that Big Tobacco realizes that the justifiable war on smoking could eventually lead to their demise, so they're pulling out all of the stops in order to create other addictive products and ensure a steady stream of future customers. What kind of nicotine products?

• Flavored cigars - Flavored snuff - Dissolvable (candy-like) tobacco pieces
• Spitless SNUS - Nicotine bottle water - Nicotine hand gel - And more!

Of course, the industry is promoting these products as "safer" alternatives to smoking.

While I'll personally enjoy being rid of secondhand smoke if these products succeed, I have to disagree with the label "safer". They're just trying to blow smoke up our asses. If they really wanted to sell a safer product they could easily remove the addictive nicotine.

But, it's not like those in the tobacco industry haven't tried to devise bogus ways to entice others into using their products in the past.

Image Source: Picture is Unrelated

As a healthcare professional, I could go on about the ethics and dangers associated with these new products, but in reality, once both corporate profits and tax revenue are affected, nothing else matters. History has shown that greed will almost always trump ethics.

The only way to win the war against nicotine addiction is through individual education, and by keeping yourself and your loved ones from ever using these products in the first place.

Smoking Takes The Sheen Off Reality

Still think that smoking (and other substance abuse) doesn't affect your brain?

Duh, be a winner.. quit smoking.

Are You A Slave To Nicotine?

I rode the elevator where I live twice last week, and each time I got on, the empty elevator was filled with cigarette smoke. Although we live in a smoke-free state, and there's a "No Smoking" sign posted in the elevator, some sorry-ass nicotine addict couldn't even wait for the 20-second ride to finish before getting his/her morning fix outside.

Although they know that they shouldn't, these same people not only smoke in the elevator, they also smoke at poolside, smoke in the laundry room, the recreation room, and even in the gym (yes, THE FREAKIN' GYM!). How crazy and inconsiderate is that?

But if you ask them, they will tell always you that they are aware of their surroundings and considerate with their secondhand smoke. Of course, they live in denial and don't recognize, or care about, their assholeledness. Sometimes I think that they do it because they are just sorry excuses for selfish human beings, but I know that it's most likely the nicotine withdrawal controlling their actions. They've let themselves become slaves to nicotine.

Smokers have lost the ability to make rational decisions about their smoking.

This video describes what I mean about the effects of nicotine addiction on a smoker, and shows just how getting their next fix overrides any ability to grasp where they are smoking or how it may affect others in the area around around them. This woman is so desperate for her fix that she needs to light-up a discarded cigarette butt, in an enclosed bus station, while other people are sitting around her.

Do you really want to go through life being this type of person? Be free, quit smoking.

You Can Quit Smoking Anytime, Right?

I went fishing the other week and caught a boatload of sucker carp. It almost seemed that whenever I tossed my line in the water, I reeled one in. I must have been using the right bait because it seemed that "once I hooked them, I owned them". Dumb fish those suckers.


Tobacco - Rethink It

Celebrate No Smoking Day

Choose March 9th as your day to quit smoking.

On that day, also reflect on your decision to start smoking, how smoking has affected your life and the lives of your loved ones, and why it's so difficult to quit. Ask yourself -

• Was it worth rebelling against your caring parents authority as a teenager only to become a nicotine addict and a foolish puppet of the sinister tobacco industry?
• Do you still think that you look cool smoking that cigarette, or continue to care what your past "friends" think about you? Are any of those "friends" that you wanted to impress with your smoking skills still an important part of your life?
• How much money have you spent on your addiction over the past years, and how much do you think it will cost you if you continue to smoke?
• How many people have you inconsiderately affected with your secondhand smoke since you've been smoking? Have you smoked where you know that you aren't supposed to smoke, smoked with your kids locked in the car, or smoked in a crowded or enclosed place, only because you "needed" to have that nicotine fix?
• Do you always think about your next cigarette, and become shaky, nervous, and irritable when you can't smoke that next cigarette? Do you find yourself saying that you really "love" smoking, find that smoking relaxes you or makes you feel better, but don't believe that's part of the addiction process?

Take these questions to heart. If you're a smoker, you've already lost control over a portion of your life. So, why not do something about it and choose March 9th as your date to take back control of your life? It's time to quit!

Smokers Suck Air

Do you want to know what a smoker with COPD feels like? Here's a simple, yet strange and accurate interpretation that illustrates the long-term effects of smoking on your lungs.


Source: CutFilms