This is a picture of Malaysia's Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai at the press conference of my country's latest effort to reduce the number of smokers. (Click on pic for article)
I have bought ciggarettes from different countries (thank god for global branding!) and yes, in places like Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore - one has to make do with ghastly looking lungs everytime one reaches for that box of fags.
Fact remains - are these pictures going to deter us smokers from lighting up? It might encourage us once in a while. But *psst* here's a secret: half the time, we're not even looking at the box as muscle memory takes over in the pick-open-pull-stick.fag.in.mouth action.
Now what might really work would be to have a lil imp implanted in the box. An imp trained to quip the words "Are you sure you really smoke that ciggarette?" complete with raised eye-brow and waving small pics of the smokers' loved ones.
Yups - I think that might increase the reduction of smokers a whole lot better than pictures of throat lesions and wrinklly lungs.
Anyone out there with connections to Discworld so we can get our hands on some imps?
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