Truth: Fear Mongering at its best

[Hyorinmaru]

The last month or so I've been seeing these Truth commercials some with kids asking if they can have stuff and most with these 'tips' from former smokers and every time it just seems to me like they're trying to get their point across through fear.

I'm of the opinion if you have to resort to fear to get people to see your point then you don't have a very strong argument and I fairly quickly want nothing to do with whatever you're saying

As petty as this sounds I've seriously considered starting up smoking again just to stick it to these people.

EDIT: after IDR's reply I realized I should have mentioned while I did think about it I won't actually take up smoking again. It's a disgusting habit, my wife is allergic to cigarette smoke and I'm healthier.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

You do so at your own peril. The science proves this, regardless of your opinion of Truth.org or their commercials.

You may not like their tactics, but fear does work, and it's not always an indication of a weak argument. It's simply a more effective marketing tool in this case than trotting out pages of data from various studies repeatedly showing the causal link between smoking and things like lung cancer. It's why Europe basically plasters their ciggarette packs with pictures of diseased mouths, lungs, hearts, etc. Fear-based? You bet your ass. And massively effective. Far more than if they just attached a thick pamphlet of data to every pack that everyone would quickly tear off and throw away.

I'd tell you not to cut off your own nose to spite your face, but I fear, all pun intended, you won't listen.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

At the end of the day that's how it works. Personally I don't like it at all, I personally can't stand when they use fear to have people bend to their will (this goes far beyond the anti-smoking campaigns you're speaking of) but it's most certainly effective and has done a pretty good job in order to get their point across. Here in Canada about 75% of the smoking pack is warnings and potential health risks that come with smoking, it is what it is.

I'm all for bringing up smoking awareness, I'd say they go way too far with this shit but it works and if it works they're going to keep doing it. Besides, most people I know who smoke wish they didn't anyways and because smoking has become less acceptable as the years go on it will definitely help in keeping future generations away from smoking. This is one of those cases where I'm all for what they're doing, I just don't like the way they're doing it.

 

[enviousdominous]

Without getting on my soap box; I'm the type of person who's a consumer advocate first and a person who will condemn harmful habits second.

The Truth PSAs have noble intentions, but they tend to insult the intelligence of those they're trying to influence. Remember the "Left Swipe 'Dat!" campaign? It seemed like the message they were trying to send is that one shouldn't smoke because it could cause' the people in the PSA to not want to have sex with them. They weren't trying to imply that after careful consideration of the dangers of smoking an insightful decision was made to "Left Swipe 'Dat!", they were trying to say that a cigarette is massive turn off just because that's how cool people think.

I applaud anyone who makes a commitment to no longer smoke, especially if they can do so without owing any credit to Truth.