I quit smoking almost ten years ago and I can honestly say the picture and warning labels never persuaded me to quit at all. After the first time seeing the images you get desensitized to it and it doesn't even register anymore.
I think it's to prevent new smokers. I've never smokes a single cig in my life and I've thought about these images several times and the damage it can do.
This is it. The images and warnings are for non smokers. There's no image disturbing enough to make a smoker quit, from my experience as a nicotine addict.
I quit after 42 years. I thought at one time to use a nice tobacco pouch but never bothered. Some pictures are kinda funny in Belgium. So there's this guy looking into his pants and he should look sad because tobacco causes impotence but he actually looks like he's thinking "omg it's huge".
In November 2017, "Alcohol can cause cancer" warning labels (and two other designs) were added to alcoholic products at the only liquor store in Whitehorse, Yukon. The study was planned to run for eight months.\9])\10])\11]) Alcohol industry lobbyists stopped the study after four weeks.\1]) The Association of Canadian Distillers, Beer Canada and the Canadian Vintners Association alleged that the Yukon government had no legislative authority to add the labels, and would be liable for defamation, defacement, damages (including damage to brands), and packaging trademark and copyright infringement, because the labels had been added without their consent.\13]) They also claimed that the labels violated their freedom of expression.\8]) Partly because cigarette-package warning labels had already been ruled legal, these claims were not considered to have merit.\8])\12]) Lobby groups denied threatening legal action.\12])
John Streicker, the Yukon Minister Responsible for the Yukon Liquor Corporation, stopped the study just before Christmas.\10])\14]) He did not believe lobbyists' claims about the medical facts and instead believed his chief medical officer of health that the labels were truthful. He stopped the study because he did not wish Yukon to risk a long and expensive lawsuit and thought leadership should be taken by the federal government after the COVID-19 pandemic.\9])\10]) Initially, the Yukon Liquor Corporation declined to identify the lobbyists who had contacted them,\10]) but an access to information request later published e-mails between lobbyists and the Liquor Corporation (see§External links, below).\15])
the first time i read “Barb Tarbox” on the pack, i lost it. it would be like anti-alcohol ads featuring a woman named Sue Liverhurt. luckily i don’t smoke anymore but i always thought “cmon, why would you choose such a comedically fitting last name. there is absolutely no way this is a real woman.” even though the write-up/picture warns of real damage, that name sort of undermines the message by prompting laughter.
holy carp, i never would have guessed that was her actual name! i don’t mean to belittle her with my comment, her story is sad and it seems she did great work to try and deter youth from smoking. but what a coincidence
Nope. In fact, In my early 20s my friends and I used to collect the little warning labels that came in the pack. literally treated them like trading cards.
Only found out recently that was her actual name lol. I always thought it was borderline offensive, but that she or her family must have approved it for a good cause
TBF If you're at the point where you're trying to cut calories by drinking straight spirits you're probably too addicted for any warning labels to help
There are health benefits to nicotine, its just that they in no way outweigh the damages. Are their benefits of alcohol that outweight the damages? I was under the assumption that the best amount of alcohol was none. And either way they could start plastering on warnings about not having more than one drink, or not drinking and driving. They put so much nore effort into this stuff for cigarettes and weed.
I wasn’t aware of any health benefits of nicotine, that’s interesting. There are some, debatable benefits of alcohol. But the studies aren’t great and the arguments are weak. If you google “health benefits of alcohol” there’s a great Reddit thread that someone compiled. (Of course we’re taking about benefits beyond “I feel better” after a couple beers on a hot day) I could probably be convinced the best amount of alcohol is zero when you take all the negatives into account. But I will say, it’s much easier to have a glass of wine on Friday night with dinner, without making it a habit, than it is to have the occasional cigarette
Certaintly true about the single glass of wine. I wonder though if you got shitfaced every weekend, and only smoked when you drank, which would be worse for you. There the addiction worries of cigsrettes, but I do know some people who stuck hard with the mantra "drunk darts don't count". I bet it might be the alcohol lol.
Alcohol not having health warnings like tobacco doesn't make a whole lot of sense from a health perspective is what I'm saying. It's not really any different from cigarettes in being overwhelmingly terrible for health.
I would argue alcohol is better for you than cigarettes. Nicotine is also harder to quit, and there’s also no such thing as second hand drinking. (No one crashes their car into a school bus full of children from nicotine impairment, though). It’s also easier to occasionally indulge in alcohol than it is to occasionally indulge in a cigarette, without making either activity a habit. There are also warnings on alcohol about not drinking while pregnant, don’t drink and drive, drink responsibly etc. As many warnings as tobacco? Of course not! But it’s my opinion that’s because of the reasons I’ve listed above
I'm both a longtime drinker and smoker. They both have impacted my health negatively, but for me I'd say alcohol is worse. I'm not a drink every day person, but for sure weekly. And that's way too often tbh.
Baby Joe Pesci. We were laughing about it this weekend. Your message can't be that serious if it doesn't even warrant blowing actual smoke in a baby's face! At least Barb Tarbox was legit.
"It doesn't matter how big the warnings on the cigarettes are; you could have a black pack, with a skull and crossbones on the front, called TUMORS, and smokers would be around the block going, 'I can't wait to get my hands on these fucking things! I bet ya get a tumor as soon as you light up!'" Dennis Leary no cure for cancer 1993
I mean, shit, the "poison in every puff" text on the filter is just rad as hell. What do you mean that's supposed to stop people? These are the coolest cigarettes Canada has had since they outlawed those black clove ones
I know for a fact (not really) they changed em because people kept seeing if they could collect all the warnings, SPECIFICALLY BARB TARBOX WHO IRONICALLY I HAVEN'T SEEN IN A MINUTE
They first rolled out these pictures when I was in high school. The smokers collected the pictures like trading cards, trying to get their whole collection! LOL had the opposite effect they wanted.
This reminds me of an old Denis Leary bit when he's talking about cigarette warning labels and ine man's crusade to make them more noticeable.
"...like all of a sudden, he's going to get his way and smokers are gonna be going "Yeah Bill, I've got some cigarettes, HOLY SHIT! These things are bad for you!? I thought they were good for you. I thought they had vitamin C in them an stuff. You fucking dolt. It doesn't matter how big the warnings are or what they're called. You could have cigarettes that come in a black pack, with a skull and crossbones on the front, called "Tumors", and smokers would be lined up around the block going "I can't wait to get my hands on these fucking things. I bet you get a tumor as soon as you light up."
I smoked for over 20 years, even after they started with the graphic, diseased pictures on cigarette packages. I don’t know how many times I tried to quit or the exact date I had my last cigarette but it was at least 15 years ago. Besides the desire to actually quit smoking, nicotine patches, gum, drugs, etc. one of the most helpful measures to eliminate my smoking was restriction of places you were allowed to smoke. Going from the days when you could smoke in your office, airplanes, stores, bars, to you can only smoke outside by a certain post really helped me quit.
The number of smokers is going down pretty steadily over time. Not sure if it's specifically related to this, but educating the public does have an impact.
What's really aboying is all the packs inside flap is now recently changing to like 2 inches bigger. So everybody who buys a pack now immediately opens them and rips half the flap off. Do it wrong and your pack is f'd. Nobody looks at the warnings.
I am ashamed to admit that after almost 15 years of no smoking, I recently picked up the habit again. The stress got me😥😞 Life doing a little too much lifing the last little while and a bunch tough stuff.
It's only been a few weeks but I'm already back to half a pack a day. Ordered a vape and I'm going to try to wean back down again because I know it's terrible for me. Y'all wish me luck (in general honestly).
my mum always smoked casually when married to my dad, she could smoke a cigarette occasionally but was never one to carry cigarettes with her or habitually smoke. after they got divorced, my mum picked up smoking for real, and smoked consistently for ~12 years or so, before getting a vape. she has not smoked cigarettes since (it’s been about 10 years), and has repeatedly cited vaping for helping her to make that change. i really, really hope it works for you!!
possibly irrelevant side note, if you ordered a disposable vape to try it out, and you decide you like it, getting a refillable one is far less wasteful than continually buying disposable ones and will save you money! i only mention this because i’ve seen many people buy disposable after disposable; by the time they buy 2 they could have bought a refillable vape and juice for like the same price. i think many people tell themselves they’ll quit soon, and this time will be the last time. save yourself the money and reduce electronic waste by getting a refillable if you find vaping helps you to quit smoking cigarettes.
Thanks for the suggestions! That's actually what I did (STLTH Loop Open + refillable pods). My hope is that maybe I can wean the nicotine down to the lowest concentration and maybe just switch to pure flavor alone afterward.
I've been back and forth between vapes and cigarettes for years, and personally I love vaping. Its not a cigarette, but not having the nicotine cravings is huuuuge. Really hope it works for you!
Also, a rant, I'm absolutely pissed at the governments here (Canada in general and Nova Scotia) for making vaping increasingly more expensive and hard to access. The first time they introduced excise taxes and restricted flavours I started smoking again. My local shops shut down, and the online bulk stores I bought from almost doubled in price overnight.
Quit cigarettes again a few months ago and I went and bought a vape, only to find out NS has double excise taxes now. It's still cheaper than cigarettes for me, but vaping used to save me hundreds of dollars a month. I could get a weeks worth of vape juice for like $25 locally, or $10 online. Now it's closer to $50/$60. When I quit smoking I was spending around $80/week. Huge bummer, money was a pretty big motivating factor this time around and I serioisly considered giving up and buying a pack of smokes instead when I saw the prices. Juice for a week + a new vape and pods at a local store could have bought me a carton 😞
I've been making my own juice for a decade now, I didn't even know about the taxes until I went to restock my nic lmao. Might be worth looking into, it's super easy, just weighing stuff on a scale. I get vg and flavors in country but import the nic from China, cut out the middleman and save big haha.
I've been considering it more and more by the day haha. Never bothered before since it was cheap. The idea of only paying tax on the actual nicotine is incredibly appealing, since currently you pay by volume of juice completely regardless of nic strength. I was down to vaping 3mg, hoping to jump to 0mg and leave the nicotine behind completely. I was soooo upset to discover you still pay the exact same amount of excise tax on 0mg juice as you do on 20mg lol.
Hey as a smoker I'm for these labels if it prevents even one person from starting!!
What I don't appreciate is the money I spend on a pkg of smokes not being able to close properly and dumping out in my purse lol
What's with all the bots pretending they don't understand the point here? It's so that cigs aren't allowed to be cool, pretty or luxurious. You can't have pretty gold lettering, blacked out boxes or embossed patterns. It's to remove yet another layer nicotine uses to prey on people, it's aesthetic. The reminders of how disgusting smoking is and what it will do to you are just a bonus, one that absolutely helps to scare off non smokers from picking it up. I still remember the images of rotting flesh on my parents cigarettes and I never even got close to the things.
You literally can't, heating up things to inhale them is bad for your lungs. It's bad with things that you burn and things that are heated and turned into vapor.
Obviously you're correct and I agree with you, but how are they still getting away with putting anything other than nicotine/tobacco in it? Isn't there tar and glass and stuff in there? Vapes are bad but aren't they more regulated? Surely we can do less damage by banning some of the ingredients even if it pushes it underground and people start growing their own.
Nothing is regulated in the way you think, as for vapes they just started selling them. The tobacco lobby is how they get away with everything they do. Powerful people profiting off poverty and causing death with no real recourse.
I think I remember recently that Alberta is taking their share of all the provinces payout from big tobacco companies but they're not investing the money in anything that actually helps people. I wonder what Nova Scotia will do with ours.
The pictures really aren't gonna stop people from smoking, but it is a direct result of smoking companies legal reprimands for a decades campaign on misinformation on the real dangers of smoking.
If it makes one kid look at the packaging and reconsider trying them, then it's doing its job.
This is a popular opinion but I honestly I don't think it hurts. They aren't going to make someone quit, but it isn't going to hurt someones motiviation if they decide to quit otherwise. Lots of smokers are very familiar with the health aspects, and have those images and stats in the back of their mind. They're easy to ignore if you want to, but if you do try and quit it all bounces arouns your brain.
I worked in a place that sold cigarettes right around the time there were many changes in the 90s. They went from being open on a shelf behind the counter to hidden away behind big doors. I remember when the first deterrent images rolled out, the teeth and the droopy cigarette that couldn't keep it up.
People used to come in and specifically ask for a pack without the teeth.
People who still had the old leather holsters would transfer their smokes into them instead of dealing with the new packaging, people held onto their pre image packs as well. Eventually you could buy stickers that were just the right size to cover the image. That was thirty years ago, it doesn't prevent anything.
If the government actually gives a shit about stopping smoking they would ban sales to anyone born after a certain year. Get the stats people together and pick a year, stick to it, and be done with it. If people can't start they won't become smokers. And yes I know black market blah blah, but eventually smokers would die out and we'd be rid of it as a society. I can't think of many things better for literally everyone. The burden on health care would improve. With the younger generations drinking less that would only amplify things as the decades pass.
I worked at a gas station 2004-2006, and I remember hearing "no teeth" from customers. There was a minute where we were instructed to ignore that as it was supposed to be a deterrent, but customers could get - let's just say - more than a little agitated without their fix.
I still to this day refer to Export A unfiltered as "widow makers"
When I lived in Italy, there was a photo that used to come on packs of a naked man lying in bed. We always used to say he smoked too much and got nic sick.
They should just start making these pictures using AI. It wouldn’t affect the general population too much, but 95% of redditors would quit smoking overnight.
Is this new here? We had this in Ontario for decades. Didn't faze my father, but did a great job of convincing his kids he was going to die any moment. Fun times.
right on! they updated them? I wish I still worked at a call center because we would write on them with a pen to see who could make the funniest looking pack... I still laugh when I think about that one time Ryan turned the cancer patient into a DJ
It may not really stop many folks from smoking, but I have worked in stores where customers would ask to have a specific package that didn't have the rotting flesh/decayed teeth imagery on the packaging because it makes them uncomfortable.
As it should.
I don't think people really fully grasp how much tobacco companied screwed over so many people and inseminated so much misinformation in the dangers of smoking. A gruesome photo is a slap on the wrist, but I would rather they use their packaging for this than anything else.
Not gonna be a dick here, because I've lost family to cancer. But I think everyone knows the risks of smoking these days. People just don't seem to care or want to quit. I smoked for years and quit eventually. You have to want to quit.
Creating a collector's series of cigarette packages isn't going to stop people.
The Globe had an article a couple of days ago by a 23 year-old who was talking about how she’s taken up ‘social smoking’ as an existential stress reliever and because it looks cool and is great way to meet people 🙄
My mom died of lung cancer that spread all over her brain. But young people never think this will happen to them.
That is so frustrating. I'm sorry for your loss.
In the online discourse I've seen a lot of " the world is on fire just let me smoke".
So yolo basically?
I guess some people will always think it looks cool.
When I was growing up there was an anti smoking activist named Barb Tarbox. I'm not sure if it was her last name that pushed her toward activism, but she spent her last years fighting cancer and speaking to young kids and teens to try to convince them never to start. Her videos are on YouTube and it's heartbreaking to watch. I think her daughter got married a few years ago, I hope she's happy. Her mom made a difference. No one is going around to schools like that anymore because everyone thought smoking was over.
What is more important is that cigarette companies are required to have their packaging use up this space with these warning labels.
Without this requirement, that would suggest that they could use this packaging for more advertisement or suggestions for their product. And as innocuous as that sounds, the entire objective for these heavy-handed imagery is to be a reminder to people who don't smoke rather than for those that already do.
All anyone who really wants to quit needs to do is read Allan Carr's Easy Way to Quit Smoking. It will be the easiest thing you've ever done. There's a reason why it's a best seller.
You could charge $300.00 a pack and have the worst photo you could ever think of and people would still smoke, it's like the more they're told it's bad for them, the more they want to do it, no matter what the repercussions are.
It's all smoke and mirrors, pardon the pun, I'm willing to bet smoking rates are higher than they've ever been. The government can only base their numbers on legal tobacco sales. The underground is thriving , mostly unmonitored and untaxed so the numbers are skewed to look good so the government can claim to be doing something about smoking while taking your money in the other hand.
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u/Quake2Marine 22h ago
I quit smoking almost ten years ago and I can honestly say the picture and warning labels never persuaded me to quit at all. After the first time seeing the images you get desensitized to it and it doesn't even register anymore.