Nobody likes commercials, especially me. But there is one advertisement campaign I have never been able to put up with. I’m talking about those ridiculously pointless Truth.org or Stand.org (or whatever it’s called) spots that are all over tv and even precede movies at the theater. They do less to send a message than they do to annoy viewers.
Let me first say that I am not a smoker. I don’t smoke cigarettes whatsoever and never will. But these commercials bug me just as much as anyone. I think the creators of this truth crap decided they were going to be as annoying as possible, yet have no point to what they were doing. Clever ways to inform people of the dangers of smoking? Not really. More just a waste of people’s time.
Their latest ad that seems to run about 37,000 times a day features a group of not so fit men with very hairy backs. Volunteers are applying some hair removal product to the furry guys as the loudmouth with the megaphone implies that the same chemicals found in the hair removal stuff are also found in cigarettes. Then all the men turn around and we see a letter on each one to spell out “CIGARETTES” while onlookers appear both confused and repulsed. WOW! What a powerful message!
I highly doubt that these ads have persuaded more than four people to quit smoking. People know the dangers of smoking by now, and it’s really up to themselves to stop or not. Some lame commercials from a bunch of hippies that probably smoke plenty of pot instead are not going to change anyone’s mind. In fact, they are probably convincing more people to start smoking than to stop. You think when this commercial comes on people aren’t saying,
“I’m going out for a smoke.”
They need to just get to the point that everybody already knows; that smoking is bad for you, plain and simple. If it meant getting rid of these stupid commercials, I just might take up smoking myself.
