My anti-Anti-Smokerism diatribe.
The first week of school, the university newspaper ran a cigarette advertisement. This provoked several months of sustained whining in the opinion section. The editor has occasionally stepped into the fray to defend his decision to run the ad, and to defend the right of the tobacco company to advertise. His efforts are rewarded with more of the same accusations of his social irresponsibility from students who declare that the editor "may be smart enough not to fall for [the ads], but there are others who are not." After yet another week of the same nonsense, I've tossed my two cents in.
Re: Tobacco Ad whining
Dear Omega,
I have a complaint to make about the vigorous and sinister campaign by tobacco companies to subvert this paper and poison the minds of our youth: I can't find it. Oh, I've looked. With the vocal backlash covering several pages of newsprint over the last few weeks, I expected to find Players ads from cover to cover. I was disappointed: I have not even found one. So add "ineffective" to all the other complaints against this campaign.
I suppose, however, that the lingering debate is over the ethics, not the effectiveness, of the ads. As to that, I appreciate the efforts of my fellow students who have taken it upon themselves to protect the rest of us from the influences of the media, which they apparently are uniquely immune to, but against which the rest of us have no defense but them.
While I thank them for their consideration, I am fairly certain that the rest of us on campus are also mature adults with the capacity to critically examine images we see in the media. Most of us have grown up in the same advertisement-saturated society, and have had the same opportunity to cultivate a healthy cynicism toward advertising.
That is not to say that the media does not effect us. To confirm that advertising does influence people's decisions, we need look no further than all the patriotic Molson Canadian-drinkers. That the decisions we are influenced to make are not always beneficial is proven Monday morning after a weekend of heavy patriotism, when we wake up thinking, "That might not have been the most beneficial decision I've made." (Usually expressed simply as "Damn.")
I have made many bad decisions in my life, and I confidently expect to make many more before I'm done. I treasure that freedom. I also treasure my friends and family, whose opinions I respect, who let me know when they think I'm making bad choices. What I'm not such a big fan of is strangers who are convinced that I'm incapable of making good decisions without them covering my eyes and plugging my ears to protect me from anything which they, in their wisdom, deem a bad influence. To those who would ban cigarette advertising, I would like to say that I appreciate your concern, but you do not have a monopoly on rational thought, nor has anyone vested you with the responsibility of protecting the fragile and impressionable minds of your peers.
Thanks all the same,
Joel.
Re: Tobacco Ad whining
Dear Omega,
I have a complaint to make about the vigorous and sinister campaign by tobacco companies to subvert this paper and poison the minds of our youth: I can't find it. Oh, I've looked. With the vocal backlash covering several pages of newsprint over the last few weeks, I expected to find Players ads from cover to cover. I was disappointed: I have not even found one. So add "ineffective" to all the other complaints against this campaign.
I suppose, however, that the lingering debate is over the ethics, not the effectiveness, of the ads. As to that, I appreciate the efforts of my fellow students who have taken it upon themselves to protect the rest of us from the influences of the media, which they apparently are uniquely immune to, but against which the rest of us have no defense but them.
While I thank them for their consideration, I am fairly certain that the rest of us on campus are also mature adults with the capacity to critically examine images we see in the media. Most of us have grown up in the same advertisement-saturated society, and have had the same opportunity to cultivate a healthy cynicism toward advertising.
That is not to say that the media does not effect us. To confirm that advertising does influence people's decisions, we need look no further than all the patriotic Molson Canadian-drinkers. That the decisions we are influenced to make are not always beneficial is proven Monday morning after a weekend of heavy patriotism, when we wake up thinking, "That might not have been the most beneficial decision I've made." (Usually expressed simply as "Damn.")
I have made many bad decisions in my life, and I confidently expect to make many more before I'm done. I treasure that freedom. I also treasure my friends and family, whose opinions I respect, who let me know when they think I'm making bad choices. What I'm not such a big fan of is strangers who are convinced that I'm incapable of making good decisions without them covering my eyes and plugging my ears to protect me from anything which they, in their wisdom, deem a bad influence. To those who would ban cigarette advertising, I would like to say that I appreciate your concern, but you do not have a monopoly on rational thought, nor has anyone vested you with the responsibility of protecting the fragile and impressionable minds of your peers.
Thanks all the same,
Joel.