In an effort to further their successful campaign against smoking, there is some heated controversy over a new commercial being shown in New York. The target is no longer individual health, but instead focuses on the loss of a parent due to smoking.
The new federal tax is official and smokers are getting hit hardest during a time when some find it challenging to simply feed their family. A pack-a-day habit will now end up costing just under $400 a month in some places, which is for some, an entire grocery budget or an electricity bill payment. And yet, the stresses associated with potential loss of jobs, homes, automobiles and a continually crumbling economy leaves this probably the most difficult time to quit.
Still, places like
Texas and New York not only look towards the tax to help boost the war against smoking, bringing light to the impact it has on an
already overloaded healthcare system with where “Doctors spend a lot of time treating smoking-related health problems." but a controversial ad campaign out of the Big Apple has smokers and child advocates on the war path.
The new
ad campaign has taken the novel approach by using the vulnerabilities of children to get a message across. That message is being heard.
The New York City government has pulled out the parenting card as it shows in a recent commercial a young child maybe three or four-years-old lost in a crowded train station. The message being sent is “Imagine how your child would feel if they lost you forever.” A message intended for some 400,000 adults in New York City who live with a child and smoke. A message intended to show what a child looks like who is left behind after their parents die. A message that says:
“If this is how your child feels after losing you for a minute, just imagine if they lost you for life.”
And for a few moments, this little boy’s tears that appear to be very real, leave viewers torn and emotional. But the reasons for the emotion extend beyond conviction surround whether or not one's son will attend a sporting event without his father. Controversy over whether or not this child is truly a “child actor" based upon the plausibility of this type of cry-on-cue reaction has surfaced in response to the commercial. Conversations on the
blogosphere, akin to water-cooler type discussions in the office break room, are showing concern over the commercial with regards to making the little boy cry. Was he really a child actor and if not, does it matter?
Commenting on an article run in the
The New York Times expressed extreme concern and ire over the child's age and the possible action taken against him to elicit such an emotional response:
"I have a boy about that age and it seemed very cruel to make a kid cry like that; even if the message has supposedly greater value."
"This spot is atrocious, offensive, and irresponsible. The sound and imagery of crying children and babies is a form of psychological torture and it has absolutely no place in a public educational campaign, no matter how thought-provoking"
"I was more concerned about the delicate emotional state of the “actor” in the commercial. Those emotions looked too real to be considered just acting. How can you promote anti-smoking by using child abuse as the means?"
In an
interview with Matt Lauer today on the
Today Show, Donny Deutsch, who owns an advertising agency and is also a CNBC personality, showed approval for both the ad and the probability that the child might have not been an actor.
“Kids are very good actors,” Deutsch said. “Maybe sometimes they make a kid cry, but if it saves 20,000 lives for five seconds of crying, I’ll take it.”
Deutsch even compares the commercial to more aggressive ads shown in other places like Britain, where he explained that the commercial was so controversial that they only show it after 7:30 pm local. However a link to the commercial in question is not available.
Nearly
440,000 lives are lost each year from smoking related conditions, according to the Center for Disease Control’s estimates. That is nearly half a million people dying every year from preventable causes. In New York, that number is 25,500. An article posted by an Emergency Room physician in the
Indy Star tells of the underlying ignorance that many parents have about the dangers of second hand smoke as he describes the health of a 4-month-old who was brought in blue and who could barely breath due to a severe respiratory infection. And yet the mother unknowingly harmed the child’s ability to recover maybe from what was a simple cold or may because her smoking in the home cause the respiratory distress. The simple fact that parents don't understand the health issues they can cause their children by closing them up in homes or automobiles with smokers is as grave of a concern as leaving them unattended for "just a second."
The previous campaign focus used shock and awe, with a graphic depiction of an individual
undergoing surgery of the carotid artery,
having fatty deposits removed as a result of smoking illness. Although the seven-year campaign has proven successful in the past, with over 300,000 smokers stopping the dangerous habit, one real-life poster-child for the previous endeavor, 48-year-old Skip Legault,
admitted that his 40-year habit (yes, it began when he was just 8) has taken over his life and he still is unable to quit. Legault suffered two heart attacks in his 20s, a stroke and 7 blood clots which led to the amputation of one of his legs all linked to his pack-a-day habit.
Most of the
commercials used have come from other countries, where campaigns against smoking have been relatively successful. In Ireland a similar campaign was reported successful, with:
“
The evaluation of phase one was very positive, with three out of five smokers and ex-smokers saying the campaign encouraged them to stay off or quit cigarettes. Also, the yearly quit rate increased from 19% to 24% following the campaign - this means that the increase in the number of those attempting to quit rose by 20,000 smokers”
The commercial showing the little boy is from an Australian stop smoking campaign called
Quit Victoria. A campaign that continues to send the message that cigarettes are "eating you alive."
