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Controversial Anti-Smoking Ad Targets Parents
Filed under: In The News
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Health officials in New York City want parents to quit smoking, so they're trying something novel: Terrorizing small children. In a new television ad, a 3-year-old boy walks with his mother in a busy train station. Suddenly, she disappears. The boy's face rapidly goes from mild concern to all-out fear, and he begins to cry. Then an ominous voice says, "If this is how your child feels after losing you for a minute, just imagine if they lost you for life."It's a powerful message, one that health officials say is necessary to get parents to stop smoking. "A great ad is a one-on-one sales pitch," CNBC's Donny Deutsch tells Matt Lauer on "Today." "Say you smoke. If I said to you, 'Matt, stop smoking, it's going to hurt your lungs.' But if I say, 'Hey, Matt, you've got kids, how about if your boy's team won a Little League game without his dad?', that's going to get to you."
But some people think the ad goes to far. The boy's emotions and tears are clearly real, a point that some think takes this ad from edgy to inappropriate.
"Although I am a former 3-pack a day smoker, now clean for the last nine years," says "Daily News" commenter Diana Romero, "And strongly endorse any legislation which bans smoking in public areas and other means which may discourage people from smoking, I feel using a child and making him cry to stress a point and send a message is totally unacceptable. A fine line has been crossed and should not be allowed to happen again."
Cancer Council Victoria spokeswoman Edwina Pearce argues that the boy wasn't traumatized during filming. "We didn't do anything dastardly to make him cry," she tells the "Daily News," "He did get upset, but it was about a 10-second period that he was upset for and then his mother came back and gave him a big cuddle and everything was happy again."
The ad is part of an ambitious New York City campaign to get 20,000 smokers to quit. It'll be interesting to see if the controversy surrounding this ad boosts those numbers, since no attention is bad attention when it comes to advertising. "Daily News" commenter OldNewYork is doubtful, "They really are beating a dead horse. People holding a cigarette in one hand and a remote in the other will keep the cigarette and use the remote."
Did this ad go too far? And even if it did, was it worth it if it gets people to stop smoking? And finally, do you think the message is an effective one?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
4-10-2009 @ 10:54AM
Karen said...I do not understand why they are making such a big deal over this ad.
The mother was there the entire time.
Kids are subjected to filming horror flicks and some very graphic imagery, etc. That is far more damaging IMO.
Good ad. The only reason it is causing controversy is because it affects people. They don't like it.
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4-10-2009 @ 12:17PM
irisheyes1951 said...These commercials do nothing. They tell you they make people quit. That's not true. If they really want to do something how about making a commercial about the fact 1 out of every 5, 4 yr old is overweight or obese. I have a great idea why don't they make a commercial about an obese parent falling down with a heart attack . Maybe that will make people start eating right. Enough of the commercials about smoking. They scare children more then they do adults. Also if they really want to do something about inappropriate commercials how about taking male enhancement commercials off during the day. Children really don't need to see them.
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4-10-2009 @ 12:36PM
LS said...1. If the government *really* wanted people to stop smoking, they'd ban tobacco. 'Course, we saw how effective that was in the '20's with alcohol (Prohibition), and how effective it is with the failed War on Drugs. So the second thing to do is simply... back the heck off. People are going to smoke. People who smoke *know* that it's bad for them. They will quit if and when they want to. Meanwhile, get the hell off of their backs. It really cheeses me off to know that it's MY tax dollars going to make these ridiculous ads. (and don't get me started on the completely ridiculous and useless tobacco taxes)
2. Regarding the children in the ads. That kid is an actor. As someone said, his mom was there the whole time. How do we know what they did to make the kid cry? I've known kids that you can look at and say, "cry" and they burst out in tears. And it's interesting to me what we get offended over. It's "bad" and there's a hue and cry over a 10-second scene of a child crying, but a 30+ second spot with women shaking their butts at the camera while a very creepy "king" dances and gropes is funny and an appropriate way to market food to kids. Nice.
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4-10-2009 @ 12:38PM
LS said...Oh, yeah. I forgot... as part of my point #1, I should have put in....
If the government really wanted to get on the "stop smoking" bandwagon, they would stop SUBSIDIZING tobacco growers. And stop taking taxes from it. Stop using it as a cash cow.
4-10-2009 @ 2:06PM
Catmoves said...I'm fed up with these mind attacking, overly emotional ads against smoking. It's faux info on the governments part because they don't dare put the lung cancer blame where it belongs. It belongs on the oil companies and the poisonous gases they make us use. Get a life, America, you are being killed by the toxic vapors from gasoline and diesel fuel. Cigarettes are an extremely minor part of the problem.
And no, I do not smoke. I'm just one more person ticked off by the misleading crap that continually comes from the mouths of our various governments.
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4-11-2009 @ 1:58PM
nic said...I don't object to making the kid cry in the ad as much as I object to the ad making kids harangue their parents (or make them believe their parents are suddenly going to drop dead). Funny how mom can be a stripper and that's not immoral but mom being a smoker is.
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4-11-2009 @ 2:27PM
Uly said...People rarely die from second hand stripping like they die from second hand smoke, though.
4-12-2009 @ 2:06PM
nic said...And what exactly is the death rate from second hand smoke? Compared to traffic fatalities, alcohol, weight, etc. etc. Seriously, what is it?
'Course the advert is about the mum dying, not the kid. I've seen people smokers die of kidney failure, liver cancer, etc. and smokers live to ripe old ages 80-90s. And I've seen non-smokers live that ripe old age suffering from dementia and the subsequent loss of dignity. A really long life, is not all that great.
What I am seeing more of is its ok to be rude to smokers. Young people who 'in sotto voce' claim that the 82 y/o lady at the church bake sale is a murderer when she passes her outside smoking on the way to the car w/ her kids, angry looks at smokers with no regard to their age, service to our country, etc.
4-10-2009 @ 4:29PM
grimmmey said...Sorry, as a daughter who is taking care of my 72 year old mother with Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis (COPD) and watching her suffer after smoking 2+ packs a day for 50+ years, as well as the mother of a 2 year old I think anything they can do to stop one person from smoking is worth it. Our children cry all day for all sorts of reasons so capturing one moment on film isn't harmful. But having to take my daughter at 22 months to visit her grandmother in the hospital for what we thought was the last time....that is traumatic. Fortunately my mom has recovered enough to live with me know, but life is full of doctors appointments, pill bottles and an oxygen machine. I only wish people could see what my mom goes through when she has a cold or a slight infection, and how scary it is to not be able to breathe and no amount of oxygen or medication help. And even though she quit smoking when she moved into my house, her body has not lost the desire for nicotine and every day she craves it. So you can't say cigarettes don't kill people because they surely do-I am witnessing it every day as is my 2 year old daughter.
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5-04-2009 @ 10:52AM
Keith Miller said...Let's face it, our actions have everything to do with our beliefs. If you believe that smoking is cool, or that, at worst, it is no worse than biting your nails, then you're not going to change your habit.
Never mind changing a bio-chemically-addictive habit. That is going to require a change in beliefs.
A teacher of mine died two weeks ago from lung cancer. The loss is real. Yes, we all die. But we also can die because our beliefs aren't in sync with the reality of the effects of our actions. Emotions are involved in all of this and should be used by health departments to stimulate corrective emotional/cognitive changes in the public to save lives.
Join the online forum Talk Your Heart Out to get professional answers to you questions in the community: http://www.keithmillercounseling.com/component/option,com_agora/Itemid,70/
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