This past week took things to a new level though as the Antismokers' highly paid PR machine produced a slick special effects video showing what fun it is to literally beat a smoker to a bloody death.... all blamed on the cigarette of course.
Terminological Inexactitudes
Phil Johnson
12th February 2010 Long have we suffered at the hands of anti tobacco. Long have all smokers been subjected to intrue and unfair propaganda from the zealots, and long have we waited for a moment such as this! A few months ago f2c, with support from others, ensured that a vitriolic anti tobacco video clip was 'pulled' - sweet music for all smokers. But, this even better! Unbelievably, we have the ASA to thank for it. The West Sussex NHS produced an anti smoking leaflet which contained glaringly large amounts of misinformation but they have been severely slapped by the Advertising Standards Agency who recieved a complaint about it. I will not bore you with wordage but I will ask you to read the link and bask in the glory of their come-uppance! Read----------------- Misleading anti-smoking leaflets withdrawn by Sussex NHS chiefs 11th February 2010
By Ben Parsons Health chiefs have been rapped on the knuckles for making unfounded claims about tobacco companies. The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) upheld a complaint about an NHS West Sussex leaflet which said cigarette firms targeted children. The leaflet also counted smokers who had given up for four weeks as being permanent quitters. The ASA concluded the claims were “likely to mislead” and asked the health service to withdraw the advert. The body received a complaint about a leaflet entitled Don’t Run With The Pack, published as part of NHS West Sussex’s Well Fit campaign. It was left at GP surgeries to advertise nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to help people give up smoking. It read: “Did you know that tobacco companies actively target young people to replace older smokers as they die off? “Did you know that in some developing countries tobacco companies give out free cigarettes to children and young people to get them hooked? “Did you know that you are twice as likely to succeed at stopping if you use NRT? Did you know that you are four times as likely to succeed if you use NRT and see a specialist advisor?” The ASA concluded there was not enough evidence to demonstrate tobacco companies were targeting younger people in the UK. It did find there was enough evidence for a claim that tobacco companies were distributing free cigarettes to children and young people in Africa, South America and the Caribbean to get them addicted. The ASA decided the claim about people stopping smoking was misleading because “stopping” meant going only four weeks without smoking. Its report said: “We considered that readers were likely to expect that the references to stopping smoking were based on more permanent cessation and not merely the four-week period used under the NHS definition. “We therefore concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.” Anna Kirk, the health improvement practitioner for substance misuse at NHS West Sussex said: “We note the findings of the ASA and take them on board for all future resources. “We continue to be committed to reducing the harm caused to our community by tobacco. ”We do this by supporting more than 4,000 people to stop smoking every year, working with schools and others to prevent children starting to smoke, and reducing the harms of second-hand smoke by promoting smoke-free environments.” Read
Press Release - NHS Trust Removes Latest Anti-smoking Propaganda11/13/2009 Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust are to remove all references of their latest anti-smoking campaign, ‘Fight back. Quit now.’1 Strong representation was made today by Dave Atherton of Freedom2Choose and freelance journalist Pat Nurse who objected against the material on the grounds of incitement to hatred towards smokers, with the inference that smokers could be treated as nothing more than ‘punch-bags’. Accompanying them was Dudley councillor Malcolm Davis. The NHS Trust had recruited the photographer Rankin to assist with the hard-hitting anti-smoking film, which was being used as part of a multimedia campaign launched in September. Rankin had co-directed the film with Chris Cottam, which shows a smoker suffering an assault from an invisible assailant as he walks down the street. Pat Nurse originally lodged the formal complaint against the material and upon consideration, the NHS Trust has agreed to remove it from all venues within the next two weeks. Phil Johnson, pub and club liaison officer of Freedom2Choose states, “I am thrilled about this decision as I have had several pub and club clientele contacting me and informing me that they had been abused as result of this material.” Freedom2Choose will actively campaign against the abuse and hatred that individuals continue to suffer as a result of modern anti-smoking techniques.
The Hills Are Alive...
Sept. 24th, 2009
By Michael J. McFadden
It started off innocently enough: Maybe with that "jokey" no-smoking sign showing a stylized fist giving a knockout blow to a stylized smoker.
The followup was a bit more sophisticated, that "funny" tv ad showing a balcony full of smokers breaking off to let the smokers plummet screaming in the background.
Then a bit of a step backwards, but hey, the "Kill A Smoker" video game *was* aimed at kids after all. Primitive match-figure stuff, but nasty enough as you played the different funtime scenarios and a great way to teach kids proper values.
This past week took things to a new level though as the Antismokers' highly paid PR machine produced a slick special effects video showing what fun it is to literally beat a smoker to a bloody death.... all blamed on the cigarette of course. It's targeted to be a "viral video," one that kids of all ages will chuckle over and forward to their friends before setting out with their own little iPods and camphones to try for their own shots at MySpace and Facebook fame.
Of course some folks might insist on whining about isolated anecdotal stories in the news; the 15 year old beating a younger teen to death for sharing a cigarette, or that chestnut about the 18 year old pregnant gal in Florida who was shot in a supermarket parking lot after she refused a stranger's polite demand that she cease smoking, or the unfortunate but isolated case of the mother "branding" her smoking daughter with a hot iron, or the little four-hour-long flame-thrower "torture party" a group of teens had at the expense of a girl who'd dared to smoke around one of their group. Don't worry, a little plastic surgery and we're told her face will look just fine again.
But hey, those were isolated incidents. Totally unintended consequences and all for the greater good. It won't go on much longer. The number of smokers is being reduced to manageable levels and the Smoker Problem will soon, finally, be solved.
Then we can get the Eaters.
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Birmingham NHS Trust launches Rankin anti-smoking viral adViral ad by photographer Rankin showing a smoker being attacked by an invisible assailant launches online
21 September 2009
Chris Tryhorn
An NHS trust in Birmingham has recruited the photographer Rankin to help with a new hard-hitting viral anti-smoking ad, part of a multimedia campaign that launches today.
Rankin has co-directed the ad with Chris Cottam, which shows a smoker suffering an assault from an invisible assailant as he walks down the street.
"Smoke and your body takes a beating," a voiceover says at the end of the minute-long film. "Fight back. Quit now."
The video will be shown on a mobile exhibition unit that will tour parts of Birmingham and also offer tests of patients' lung ages and carbon monoxide levels.
Rankin and Cottam's ad is also being distributed virally on YouTube and other websites as part of the marketing campaign surrounding the initiative.
The theme is also taken up on posters and leaflets that feature three different men who have been beaten up, with the slogans "Smoking: GBH to your insides", "When you smoke, it's your insides that get beaten up" and "Cigarettes attack you. But in ways you don't always see".
This campaign is being run by the Dr Foster agency, which was able to secure Rankin's services free of charge.
NHS Birmingham East and North is hoping the campaign will get through to "hard to reach" smokers – specifically white males aged 35-55 in the C2DE socio-economic category – living in the most deprived parts of the area.
"People have been seeing stop smoking ads all their lives and everyone knows it's bad for them. It's old news," said Joanna Mawtus, creative director at Dr Foster.
"Unless we give people a new perspective on it, they're not going to take any notice. We think this idea does that.
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