1/12: Canadian cigarette warnings

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by sycamore

It might be possible if a carefully controlled study were performed. I am not sure if there are any physiological measures (e.g. changes in brain activity) that could determine the severity of a craving.

That level of interpretation of brain activity is *way* in the future. You can implement "careful controls", but what will you measure? That's a rhetorical question....I'm sure there's a psych major someplace that will claim they could design a questionarie that will reveal the truth. But I just think of the term "physics envy". :-)

Originally posted by sycamore

I don't believe that is necessarily true. While I don't argue the health of others aspect, I suspect a psychological element to it as well--"If we make it harder for people to smoke, they will find that it is not worth it to smoke anymore." They have the right to reduce smoking areas...smokers will still find a place to light up.

Nobody who's ever been a smoker would subscribe to that strategy--you're right: it simply being inconveniant never stopped anybody from smoking. Employers who maintain a smoke-free workplace (most of them, these days) may be trying to discourage smoking breaks. I've never seen anybody cut down on lunch or coffee breaks to compensate for time they spent puffing *j-u-s-t* outside the entrance--a habit which is annoying in itself.

As a constantly smaller segnment of the population wants to smoke, and an increasing segment doesn't want to have to breathe the sidestream, there's simply less and less reason to go to any lengths to accomodate the smokers. I doubt anybody thinks it will get anyone to quit, but there's simply less willingness to go to any trouble to make it easier.

Originally posted by sycamore

What works for me may not work for Joe Blow. Based on personal experience, I know what has been helpful for me and what has not.

Um...what's the longest time you've been smoke-free since starting? Because if you've never sucessfully quit, how can you know what works for you?

Originally posted by sycamore

To me, it's like a desensitizing. You see it enough, you get used to it.

Originally there was only one warning text in the US, then they realized they needed to keep rotating them or they''d become effectively invisible over time. Still, a smoker who has some desire to quit, or concern about the effects of his smoking, will sweep that kind of input under a mental carpet as quickly as possible, to resolve the cognitive dissonance. So you have to change the text (and now the gross pictures) to at least freshen the stimulus.