Does anyone else find the emphysema/anti-smoking PSAs a bit over the top?

[markpkessinger]

OK, so this isn't the most pressing topic on the planet, nor even on DU. But I was curious if anyone else has found the PSA commercial, currently airing on MSNBC and possibly elsewhere, about smoking/emphysema -- you know, the one that features the guy hacking and coughing up his lungs while trying to breath -- to be, well, unnecessarily over the top?

Let me state for the record that I am not, nor have I ever been, a smoker. Let me add that I lost BOTH parents to lung cancer, likely caused by the fact that they both smoked the better part of their lives. So I am not at all unsympathetic to the underlying, anti-smoking message. But often times I happen to be eating my dinner with MSNBC on the tube, and I resent the intrusion of the nausea-inducing commercial. Has anyone else had a similar reaction?

[leftstreet]

1. You never see an extremely obese person explode

Or a heavy drinker aspirate vomit and die

or...

It's all just bizarre tv

[applegrove]

2. I am an ex smoker. We have some anti-smoking ads on in Canada that are quite explicit.

I don't mind them because smoking is such a hard thing to quit. Smokers need to be bashed over the head with the message that smoking kills in order to get through all that smoke induced denial. IMHO.

[luvspeas]

3. My father suffered with emphysema for many years...

It was horrible. I'm sorry someone ruined your meal with a reminder of that.

[markpkessinger]

4. I'm sorry for your loss. I watched my parents die, too...

...but I don't necessarily want to relive that night after night if it's all the same to you.

[Newest Reality]

5. Well, you could add that to the scores of

ridiculous, corporate nonsense and propaganda that you have to pay for via your satellite/cable subscription, (while they shove commercials at you to boot).

Consider joining those who have pulled the coaxial out of the base of their brains and canceled their subscriptions. You can use the money to buy DVD sets of shows you like and there is a lot of content online to learn from and enjoy. People do change after they are TV free for a while, I have experienced it and seen it.

Just a thought. Think of what would happen if droves of people dropped their propaganda feeds ;) That would be significant and could be worrisome to the corporate masters, even. The pusher thinks you have been so hooked on their drug since childhood that you will never ever consider kicking the habit.

[Ghost Dog]

8. Very well put. This is the mainline addiction. TV tells you what's 'normal'

until you unplug the feed.

[Trajan]

6. Freedom is a crazy thing ...

You want it, but you hate it ...

Since you are condemned to be free ... learn to use the channel buttons ...

[Maru Kitteh]

7. After watching my father die from it, no I most certainly do not think it's "over the top"

especially if it stops ONE person from dying the way my dad did.

I realize it may make some people uncomfortable - that's kind of the point, isn't it?

[Luminous Animal]

10. In New Zealand (and elsewhere?) they have horrific pics on cig packs. Kids collect them like

bubblegum cards. I.e., they find them amusing. The shop owners I talked to said cigarette sales remained the same and in fact, people were picking packs based on the horrific picture they preferred. ("May I please have the tongue cancer one?)

[Maru Kitteh]

15. and?

Anecdote is not evidence.

Evidence shows that campaigns against tobacco use reduce the overall rate of smoking, the opinions of cancer merchants with skin in the game not withstanding.

Oh, and good luck to those kids in putting a PSA from the TeeVee in their back pocket.

[Modern_Matthew]

9. My grandma has emphysema and has never smoked a day in her life. nt

[rox63]

17. There are other things that can cause emphysema

But smoking is the most common cause. If she was exposed to a lot of second-hand smoke, or spent a lot of time around other inhaled contaminants, that could cause it. There is also a rare form of emphysema that is genetically based.

[JDPriestly]

11. Drop your cable subscription. Watch MSNBC online.

How much do you pay for cable? Do you really think you get your money's worth?

I think that dropping your cable subscription is a good way to voice your dismay at the corporate dominance of our country. So I am trying to persuade people to drop their cable subscriptions. You object to this ad. But it is just one example of the kind of intrusion into our lives that the corporate media seems to think we should pay for.

It's ridiculous to pay the high prices that cable companies charge for their services for the low quality programming you get on cable. That is especially true now that the public stations are losing their funding.

[BrightKnight]

12. I'm an former smoker. Stop it by means necessary. - n/t

[Raine]

13. The really horrible one is the one with the pretty young girl

who turns into the woman with the whole in her neck due to smoking. It's awful to look at but it may scare people especially young people into thinking about the consequences of smoking. If it stops just one person from starting or convinces one to quit then it's worth it.

[JI7]

14. i think those are actually kind of effective unlike those old fried eggs as brain on drugs ads

or even the one with parent and kid and kid says i learned from watching you.

[dionysus]

19. I loved that one! kids on bed, listening to a walkman.. dad produces cigar box with syringe and

heroin "are these your drug? where did you get em? who taught you how to use this stuff?"

"YOU DAD ALRIGHT! i learned it from watching you"

[markpkessinger]

16. Thanks for all the responses -- you've all made me rethink my position a bit

I appreciate the various responses to my initial post. After reading through all of them, I can see that the underlying good of the message outweighs any personal discomfort I might experience in watching them. I think the ones that really affected me were the posts from former smokers. Also, I hope people understand, I certainly didn't intend to minimize the horror of the disease itself, nor the pain of those who have lost loved ones to it. As I said in my original post, I lost both parents to lung cancer (a mere twelve days apart, no less), so I am not unaware of the pain of such a loss. The ad in question, I later realized, was actually for a nicotine patch. Being a non-smoker myself, I don't really know how effective those are at helping people to quit.

[anAustralianobserver]

18. No, go with your first instinct - such ads (and car crash ads etc.) are

disgusting and disturbing, authoritarian and in general counter-productive. Maybe show similar short educational films to kids (with parent permission) and maybe occasional info leaflets in cigarette packages

but hypnotic broadcast bombardment of our lizard brains is wack.

(non-smoker here, not that that's crucial)