This image of two lit cigarettes looks like the towers of the World Trade Center after being hit by the terrorist planes. And with a message that reads “5.4 million die of smoking related causes each year that's 2000 times a 9/11”,it is debatable weather such a tragic event should be leveraged for an anti-smoking campaign or not.One side of the debate believes that by letting people know that cigarettes kill more people than the terrorist attacks they would hopefully be conditioned to either have a lower opinion of cigarettes or create a subconscious relationship between cigarettes and 9/11.This view also holds that considering the resources being spent towards terrorism, cigarettes should be made illegal because it kills even more people.
The other side of the debate thinks the two are unrelated and any attempt to compare them is absurd. Because While a person has a choice to quit smoking or not, the victims of the terrorist attacks did not have an option. They died because of other people's choices. From this point of view smoking is a voluntary hazard, and it is not the business of the government to save people from themselves.
I think this ad in an attempt to be provocative went a tad too far by making the casualties of the 9/11 attacks seem trivial, and there is no reasonable connection between smoking and the attacks. This would offend people that lost their loved ones in the attacks, more so if they were non smoking victims.
I haven’t smoked in about 18 months, but looking at the cigarettes in this ad, even with the extra darkened smoke, makes me want to light one up. I would rather see pictures of tar blackened cadaver lungs- I think they are more effective.
I think that the ad went a bit too far, too. They should have used some other means to say that Smoking is terrible for you.
ReplyDeleteI think this is not a very good comparison. Basically the victims of the 9/11 attacks did not make a concious choice. But pople who smoke made their own choice.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. This is really revolting. Yes, smoking is a problem, but that doesn't give anyone the right to use a national tragedy for advertisement.
ReplyDeleteThis would never make anyone think about quitting smoking. As you said the 9/11 attack and smoking are TOTALLY unrelated, since you have a choice to quit and the victims on 9/11 did not. Smoking does kill a large amount of people each year, but it even gives the risks on the pack of cigarettes. Plus the process of death is different, those that die from smoking usually get sick and are given a couple years notice before they should become deceased. The victims of 9/11 had no notice prior to walking onto that plane, and they died instantly. I honestly do not see any comparison, and if I knew someone who died in the 9/11 tragedy, I would feel deeply offended.
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