Sometimes late at night I like to sit in my living room, and watch hours of mind numbing television. I use that time to either keep up with the Kardashian's, or to watch Twilight for the 800th time on MTV. And of course when you watch the boob tube for that long you're going to have to sit through about 7,000 commercials whether or not you want to. One of the commercials I see more often than others are the "#truth campaign" commercials that promote stopping the use of big tobacco products. After doing a little research on #truth I learned that they've been around since 1999 and since 1999 their goal has been to eliminate teen smoking and to uncover the manipulative marketing tactics big tobacco has been using as long as they've been around. The #truth website is full of facts about what smoking does to the body, facts about what kind of products are in these cigarettes we smoke, facts about "you'll die if you smoke cigarettes" in big neon letters. You'll find some quotes from former smokers, you'll find dates and locations where you'll be able to participate in rally's against smoking in different big cities and at music festivals. The website provides information about people with mental illness being targeted by big tobacco, there was one #truth that mentioned seventy some percent of adults whom had at least a college degree who had ever smoked cigarettes reported that they had successfully quit smoking cigarettes (how that's a helpful statistic i'm really not sure). And another thing I noticed that the website was trying to tell me was "We aren't telling you to quit smoking, we're just making you aware of what will happen if you do smoke."
Before I continue let me say that I was a smoker. I smoked about 6 cigarettes a day at minimum from the time I was 16 until recently when I quit. I am 23 now. When I think back to the day I first started smoking I can't really remember why it was something I decided to do. I think the boy I had a crush on was smoking and it made me look cool or some stupid shit. If were going to be honest, 16 year old me didn't put a lot of thought into my decision making. But goddamnit I looked cool doing everything! Once I started, like when anyone starts smoking, it was something I thought I enjoyed doing. Smoking didn't seem to make my skin look any different. Smoking didn't hinder my ability to be a ballerina. Smoking wasn't causing me to go broke. Smoking was just a part of my daily routine at that point. It wasn't until recently I started to think to myself "Why do I even smoke cigarettes? Do I actually NEED one? Does anyone actually NEED a cigarette?" and the super simple answer to that question is NO. I always love seeing someone go through something stressful at work and say out loud "Man, I need a cigarette!" I always ask that person "What do you NEED a cigarette for?"
Even when I smoked that was something I never understood. Nobody actually NEEDS a cigarette. Now maybe this is where the whole "addiction" thing comes into play. And this is also where my opinions and my thoughts on the matter might get me into a debate or two but; to me; addiction is something we use an an excuse. When you take a puff from a cigarette within 10 or so seconds of the nicotine entering your body, it causes your brain to release adrenaline creating somewhat of a head high, a little buzz of energy if you will. Unfortunately that little buzz of energy goes away rather quickly, but smokers love that little buzz, that little buzz is apparently what everyone is "addicted" to. So they continue smoking more and more every day, chasing the head buzz. After so long it becomes nothing more than a routine. You get in your car, you smoke on the way. You get done with work, you have a smoke just because you want one. You have a few drinks at the bar? Better go smoke a cigarette. Just in case.
I see the #truth campaign constantly attacking big tobacco. Reveling whatever horrifying truths they can about cigarettes. Saying things like "Imagine if big tobacco had to STOP selling its deadly products." and that's fine. We see what uncovering the truth does, we see that uncovering the truth helps SOME people quit smoking. But for me, uncovering the truth did NOT help me quit smoking. What did help me quit smoking is my best friend Taylor telling me I didn't smell good. And the other thing that helped me quit smoking was me asking myself "what does smoking really do for you?"
It doesn't do anything. For anyone.
I want to ask any smokers right now, why do you do it?
What kind of joy does it bring you?
And is that joy worth dying over?
If I had it my way I would have a whole new approach towards the situation. I wouldn't try and hold big tobacco accountable. Not one bit. Yes, they supply us with these death sticks but at the end of the day, we're the ones who spend upwards of $7.00 for a pack of 20 cigarettes. And we're the ones who already know the deadly outcome.
We cater to people who smoke at this point. They have their own designated areas that they can go and blow carbon monoxide at each other for 15 minutes. They have butt huts, that are essentially cigarette butt garbage structures that often times light on fire from people dropping still burning cigarettes into for disposal. At what point are we going to hold ourselves and each other accountable? At what point are we going to stop trying to beat billion dollar companies at their own game and start telling the people we love "put the fucking cigarettes down and get a grip." I like to smoke pot, but I don't have my own roped off corner of the outside world that I can go and take my marijuana sticks to, to smoke in public.
Back to my first few thoughts in this post, on the #truth website they clarify "We aren't telling you to quit smoking." WHY NOT?
Tell everyone to quit smoking. The only ads I want to see that are aimed at smokers should read "QUIT SMOKING CIGARETTES, YOU DON'T ACTUALLY NEED THEM."
Sometimes people need to be told what to do, instead of how to feel. And lately this is something that's been heavy on my mind. We should tell people not to smoke. We should tell people not to eat fast food. We should tell people not to do things that could potentially be life threatening to them, not just pump the people full of facts and brainwash them to spread "the truth". The truth is, we are the problem. And it's a problem that could easily be solved.
If you love people who are very close to you who smoke, tell them to stop. Tell them to stop three times a day, every day. Sometimes it takes a little more than just knowing the truth.
We can beat our own addictions a lot easier than we can take down billion dollar corporations. And it sure as hell wouldn't hurt everyone to at least try.