Comments on: Graphic, Repulsive Anti-Smoking Ads: Are They Effective?

By: RJ Chamberlain

RJ Chamberlain — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:37:43 +0000

To be honest Anne, I don’t know these ads have much influence on a persons smoking habits or not. The person has to want to give up I believe. However I think they provide education on the extremes of being a smoker and may deter young people starting out. Nice work.

By: quitter

quitter — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:05:00 +0000

I’ve quit smoking cause of the throat cancer pic!! Took away any joy i had about smoking and only felt disgust… think they are the best idea ever!

By: Zenka

Zenka — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:26:12 +0000

I think pictures like this work. In my countyr (Lithuania) there are no pictures, only words how smoking is bad. Are your from US? You can participate in a survey, which I found and see how many people don’t smoke: http://sogood.net/smoker

By: Turtledove

Turtledove — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:08:53 +0000

I just looked at them again. They’re worse than the “black lungs” I saw a a kid. More “unsexy,” too. I think they might have worked.

By: Nicholas Kenney

Nicholas Kenney — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:58:08 +0000

We don’t have anything like these here in the states…I wish we did. The problem is that kids don’t think along these lines. They think it can’t happen to them, only to “old people”. Most kids start smoking because of peer pressure. They want to “belong”, “fit in” and if that’s what everyone else is doing…they want to do it, too.
These pics are extremely graphic and unsettling. I think Jan and I would’ve quit years before we did if cigarette manufacturers here in the U.S. placed ads like these on packs of cigarettes. How nasty! I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2007 and it had spread into my throat and covered my left vocal cord. The doctors couldn’t say for sure if it was caused by years of smoking or not.
I’m so thankful we both quit.
Great article Anne!

By: Ruby Hawk

Ruby Hawk — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:28:05 +0000

another I like,

By: Alexa Gates

Alexa Gates — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:09:56 +0000

I think that these adds would dissuade me from buying a pack of cigarettes next year (I can legally buy them in the U.S. once I’m 18) The pictures are gross and they get to what can actually happen if you decide to smoke. It’s like paying to kill yourself if you ask me. I think it depends on who you are if the ads are going to work or not.

By: Anne Lyken Garner

Anne Lyken Garner — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:48:59 +0000

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. I think the consensus is that the ads do not work?

By: Daisy Peasblossom

Daisy Peasblossom — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:40:45 +0000

My mother died of COPD caused by smoking, anorexia, over-work, and a dusty, smoky environment. She said to me what I was a fairly young teen that since she smoked, she couldn’t tell me not to. It was the best thing she ever did for me; it took away any desire I might possibly have had to take up the habit. Two of my children smoke; the oldest does not. Life is puzzling that way.

By: Kate Smedley

Kate Smedley — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:59:45 +0000

Some of these photos turned my stomach and I don’t smoke (and wouldn’t start having seen these). For the truly addicted smoker they don’t always have an effect unfortunately but smoking causes so much illness perhaps the only way to reach people and encourage them to stop is to publish adverts like these. Thought provoking article.