Tuesday, July 3, 2012

On Fear Appeals

By now it should be apparent that I do a lot of random ebay shopping; I found this sometime yesterday and thought it was actually more disturbing than "funny," as the item was described.

 source: eBay

It coughs and screams when you smoke to remind you to quit.

Ok, we get it, smoking is bad. But is it really that bad that you have to market products to leave a phycological scar on a smoker?

I'm not really a smoker myself, but I find this to be going a bit far on the fear appeals front. No one who smokes thinks it is good for them, and yes maybe if you are going through a carton a day you should slow it down a bit, but people have been smoking for hundreds and hundreds of years - no amount of 'smoking is evil' compaining to rid the world of all cigarettes is going to stop everyone. And I'm sure there are some things you could do to your body that are far worse than having a smoke every now and then.

That was kind of on the ranting side, wasn't it? What do you guys think about this?

2 comments:

  1. I think some people will come up with just about anything to make a buck. That's probably the main motivation behind those ashtrays. That said, even though I don't smoke, I'm not on any crusades against it, so I find the ashtray a bit on the extreme side, as I do some of the laws being passed.

    All in all, I guess I just believe in leaving folks alone, as long as they're not hurting anybody.

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  2. I may be a bit partial about the whole ''as long as they're not hurting anybody'' since my aunt recently died of lung cancer probably from second hand smoke from the bar here she used to work.

    As for the astray itself, I doubt any smoker would ever buy it, unless they have a very odd sense of humour or a clear death wish, I mean, smoking *does* kill.

    I think it more the kind of thing I would have at my place to give out to my smoker friend when they go out on my balcony to have a cigarette. Like a funny/friendly reminder that I care.

    And of course the goal is to make a buck, that's what any and every seller is after.

    If those where in public areas and common, I might have a problem with the constant assault on smokers they would cause.

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