[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by vesperae
on December 7, 2008, 9:34 pm, in reply to "Prospective AS PSA on Addiction / YT"
Message modified by board administrator December 7, 2008, 9:39 pm
This is an interesting PSA to me for two reasons - first, because the CGI is nicely done, and second, because it is an excellent example of just how heavy handed, misguided, and totally off the mark so many AS PSAs are.
Once again, the producers of this spot have completely and utterly missed the point that starting to smoke requires not only personal choice, but work to accomplish. Cigarette companies and cigarettes themselves possess no Dark JuJu that forces helpless young people to start sucking them down. They have to want to able to do it, and in learning to be able to smoke, their Identities change ever so subtly, but ever so profoundly; and that's the REAL magic of smoking in my estimation.
So, my reaction to this AS PSA is that it provides a really nice antithesis to the premises of this forum. Sometimes getting it completely wrong can stimulate people to think about what is actually more realistic and meaningful.
And for this reason, I can also easily imagine lots of young people reacting to this spot by wanting to run out and pick up their first pack of cigarettes... 
Responses: