[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by vesperae My personal reaction to these has been to repress and avoid thinking about them, taking refuge in the notion that it seems that this trend is very unlikely to be adopted in the U.S., because I think that tobacco industry legal leverage is still strong enough to prevent adopting the graphic labels here, and I also think that Americans - smokers and non-smokers alike - wouldn't accept having this imagery sitting around. That's just my "gut read" of the situation, and I may very well be completely wrong. I have to confess that I've done very little research into what the results of these campaigns have been in countries where the graphic warnings have been utilized, partly out the repression reaction, and partly because I don't trust that the people quoting the "results" would be completely truthful. As to how having these images around would influence the more Sublime aspects of the appeal of smoking...that's a great question, and part of me can actually imagine it eventually increasing the strength of this appeal, at least for some. And while I haven't wanted to think about this subject until now, I appreciate your giving me a little shove, since I suppose that we will all be confronted by these graphic warnings eventually. But part of me is (insanely?) holding out for the possibility that in a few years some radical social change will result in something as bizarre and delightful as the return of cigarette advertising to real time on demand media. It happened for hard liquor, didn't it? * * * * *vesperae
on July 27, 2007, 3:17 am, in reply to "Graphic Warning Labels"
Good question Jason. 
Responses: