Of course not everyone is going to develop every single disease that is known to be exacerbated or better yet caused by cigarettes, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be aware of every one of them. I am a medical transcriptionist for a hospital and I can honestly say almost every one of the transcriptions I get that are of someone who smokes have peripheral vascular disease or some type of heart-related ailment. Not every one of them require amputations, but that doesn’t mean that these diseases shouldn’t be known about. Simply put, you could go around and ask people if they knew that cigarettes cause cancer and almost everybody knows this, but how many people know that it causes peripheral vascular disease or better yet even know what it is? The point being is if people were aware of all the things smoking cigarettes causes, they would’ve never taken the habit up in the first place. I wasn’t aware of a lot of it until I went to college for the transcription. Before that, I used to randomly smoke a cigarette ever so often for the ‘lightheaded’ feeling, as I’m supposing a lot of people start off this way before becoming addicted. Lets just say once I learned a thing or two, I not only never will touch a cigarette again, but I loathe them.

So pretty much I think these so called ‘scary’ images that are implicated in these ads are definitely a good thing. Smoking cigarettes should be emphasized in a ‘scary’ manner because of what it does to you down the line. The effects of cigarettes can be nasty looking and that is the point. Cigarettes shouldn’t be appealing, they’re nasty and the effects of that should be shown. Of course not everyone is going to be effected by it and quit, but if it helps some, I say its totally worth it.

I also want to comment on those that say ‘people live to be old and a decent age and they smoke’. First off nobody is the same, everyone has different reactions to anything in general, so not everyone is going to definitely get this or that, but what is failed to be mentioned is what problems these ‘aged’ individuals had to face due to the habit of smoking. Trust me, most that have a lifelong smoking habit aren’t enjoying it, especially at an older age. Most are hauling around an oxygen tank, hacking and coughing, probably are sick often and suffer from a number of different problems and diseases due to their cigarette habit. Had these older individuals who lived these so called ‘ripe age’ long lives not have smoked, they more than likely would’ve had less than half to none of the diseases and problems they had to suffer through due to smoking and would’ve lived a lot longer. Of course people develop problems and get diseases that don’t smoke, thats a part of life and aging, but to add to the list making the rest of your life more difficult, painful, and a lot less comfortable by smoking, what is the sense in that? Simply, those that take up for cigarettes are ignorant and that isn’t to be taken in an insulting way, but in a lacking knowledge sort of way. Nothing good comes from smoking cigarettes period.

I found it sad how people made the comments about it scarring and traumatizing their children. I highly doubt its going to traumatize a child, maybe scare them because they’re not used to seeing gross looking photos, but not traumatize. What makes this a good thing is it will scare the child to realize how bad the effects of smoking can be.

thanks,
love kyla xoxo

i hope you think about it!

amber.