Just sent an email and saw a big ad on the side of the page for Child Smoking Prevention. Sponsored, of course, by Philip Morris USA, a civic spirited organization that has probably killed more Americans than any terrorist group or war opponent we've ever had. Fortunately, they're good for the economy.
Anyway, there's a link at the bottom of the ad (which shows a very skinny mom talking to a daughter whose jeans were probably purchased within the last 20 years - the pants aren't old but the style is) that will take you to a page telling you how to converse with your child to prevent them from smoking. As explained by a company that makes a fortune selling cigarettes.
Apparently, any opportunity you get, whether through direct conversation or pointing out an anti-smoking billboard or commercial, what you are supposed to do as a parent is point out that you disapprove of smoking then ask your child what he or she thinks. Um, yeah, that's gonna fucking work. Just in case your kid is already smoking, point out that you disapprove before you ask what the kid thinks. Pretty much guaranteed to make the child resent you, talk about you to his or her friends, and smoke smoke smoke.
Well done, Philip Morris. Killing America's youth for how many years?
Friends Of Dean Martinez "Retrograde" 1997
11 hours ago
3 comments:
Tobacco is just another drug -- but in certain forms it's an exceptionally addictive and damaging one. My mom died of tobacco -- and the rest of us have had to live with the temptation to kill ourselves the same way.
Think I'll go get myself a Sweet & Mild to round out the evening...
Don't know what Sweet & Mild is.
And I'm not the type to blame the drug dealers. My drug of choice happens to be another of the legal ones. I choose it, as I have chosen others, and at some point how I have lived will kill me.
It pisses me off that Philip Morris acts like they give a shit then runs an ad campaign that will definitely increase the number of smokers. It's an intentionally ineffectual ad campaign, and they make money off pretending to care. HI, WE'RE PHILIP MORRIS, AND WE INTEND TO KILL YOU. PLEASE BUY OUR PRODUCTS IN THE MEANTIME. Because they have to get new addicts as the old ones die. Hard to believe anyone so repugnant isn't an official government agency.
I used to do some writing for Kraft, which is (or was at the time) a subsidiary of Phillip Morris. I never felt as guilty about hawking junk bonds or mortgage backed securities or telling people that diversification would reduce risk (hah, check your portfolio today, suckers) as I did selling horrible, unnatural food to children for Kraft. And the people there would use words like "funner" to describe blue jello and such. Yikes. Of course, I never did anything for PM, but I felt bad about it anyway.
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