So Why do People Smoke?

Now obviously there are different answers to this question for different people. I thought I would compile a list of positives and negatives to see and compare what the advantages and disatvantages of smoking are. This list has been created through research for previous blogs, interviews and personal knowledge. Please note that there are more positives and negatives that may have not been included.

Positives:

• Relieves stress, anxiety, paranoia and depression
• Encourages weight loss
• Sociable (e.g. having a 'cigarette break' at work)
• Positive effect on short-term memory
• Shortens response time
• Reduces the risk of Alzheimer's, Senile Demetia and Parkinson's disease
• Nicotine provides smokers with a pleasant feeling

Negatives:

• Causes bad breath
• Can cause the yellowing of teeth and fingernails
• Makes breathing more difficult
• Can cause cancers
• Can deminish one's sense of taste and smell
• Can increase migraines
• It is addictive - one becomes dependant on cigarettes
• Increases the chance of various illnesses such as lung diseases or heart attacks - not just cancers
• Decreases your years of life
• Cigarettes pollute our environment
• Those around are forced to suffer the same negative effects - second-hand/passive smoking
• and most importantly: can result in death

Looking at the above lists, it is evident that the negatives outweigh the positives. This is not only by numbers but also by significance. What I mean by this is that being sociable is not as significant as having difficulty breathing. A common response to these negatives is that it is not definant - note how most listed under negatives being with 'can' rather than 'does'.

So if the negatives are so dramatic, it just doesn't seem to make sense. Why do people smoke?!

References:


- Fleischer, G. 2010, 'The Real Positives of Smoking', http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6863535052&topic=13289, Accessed 17/10/2010

- Ritzman, K. 2005, 'Smoking cigarettes has short-term health benefits', http://media.www.thetriangle.org/media/storage/paper689/news/2005/11/18/SciTech/Smoking.Cigarettes.Has.ShortTerm.Health.Benefits-1109656.shtml, Accessed 17/10/2010

- Ygoy, 2008, 'Cigarette Smoking Pros and Cons', http://smoking.ygoy.com/2010/03/09/cigarette-smoking-pros-and-cons/, Accessed 17/10/2010

If people don't care about their health...

Coming from more of a marketing background in my studies, I began thinking about the current success of anti-smoking campaigns and how to boost it. Now most ads focus more on the damages smoking causes to health (see previous post). Having asked a few smokers, I found that people aren't concerned about their health (see previous posts). Then what would they be concerned with? I came up with other potential issues that could answer this:

• image/appearance
• pollution
• family's health

As mentioned in my previous post, smoking is considered sexy. Actors and actresses promoted it in earlier years and so the public followed. What they weren't told was that smoking also caused the yellowing of teeth and nails, caused rinkles, and created bad breath. If image is what smokers are concentrating on then maybe advertise how smoking makes one appear disgusting. This is touched upon in ads such as the mouth cancer ad but as found through my interviews, most smokers think that it will never happen to them. Bad breath, rinkles, and yellowing of teeth and nails happens to ALL smokers.

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Smoking doesn't just effect the smoker. As found in my previous post, smoking harms the envioronment and wildlife also. When interviewing smokers, it was found that many do actually care for the environment and never really considered the damages smoking could cause to the earth. Raising awareness about such issues would not only help the environment but maybe even turn people off smoking.

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If one doesn't care about themself, then who would they care about? Their family. When one smokes, the people around have no choice but to breathe their smoke in - Passive smoking. Some ads have already begun concentrating on this (see previous post). By showing a smoker's child in hospital due to passive smoking, this triggers the smoker in more of an emotional way. They may not care about themself but they do care about their family.

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If ads were more varied, covering several issues rather then just focussing on the damage of health, maybe the quit response would reach a wider audience?