Posting here for traffic really, but it does have an element of AIBU about it.
It's about smoking. A disgusting habit, and I say that as a smoker. It smells, it is unpleasant, it is horrible to be around (even though I smoke, I can't stand being around other people who smoke (I know, I'm hypocritical, and I will freely admit that). It is clearly bad for your health, and it stains Teeth, clothes, seeps into things, lingers, it's a thoroughly disgusting habit to have. I'm writing that, and simply writing these truths is kind of like a "cleansing" for me - these are the things that want me to give this horrible habit up. I know it's bad for my health, but I'm kinda finding more value in it being a socially unacceptable habit that is helping me give it up as opposed to trying to give up purely for the benefit of my own health. If that makes sense!
Anyway, on to my AIBU. I bought a packet of fags today. They now all look the same, but you don't know which picture you're going to get on the packet until you buy a packet. And the pictures are horrible, intentionally so, trying to give people to give up. But the picture on the pack I bought today was of a man, curled up on a bed, his head in (one of) his hands. The caption above the photo was "smoking increases the risk of impotence"
Now, forgive me, but this is clearly a "stock" photo - a posed photo - the man in the picture is obviously a model, his body is fit, muscly, healthy. It is a posed picture for the benefit of the message on this particular packet.
Which made me think. Some packets have pictures of toes that are missing (lost as a result of smoking due to decreased circulation). A horrible picture of a man with a huge tumour on his throat (implying throat cancer as a result of smoking). A picture of a glazed eyeball (lost sight ) as a result of smoking. A picture of rotten teeth (as a result of smoking).
Are these all "stock" photos, or "posed" photos? Are the pictures we are seeing on cigarette packets truly of people/individuals who have suffered as a result of smoking? Or are they just "stock/posed" photos? The impotence picture on the packet I have in front of me is clearly a posed photo. So what about the rest of these photos?
If they are "stock" or "posed" photos, then, why? If the effects of smoking are so bad, which is something I think we can all agree on, then why not show actual people who have suffered horrendously because of smoking as opposed to photos that are in want of a better word, manipulated through captions? The photo of the male model on my current pack actually has had the opposite affect on me - a clearly fit, healthy male, posing in order to try and portray a scenario that is a potential outcome of smoking. I'm not suggesting that the pic should be of a flacid willy (!!!!), but that it is so obviously posed has resulted in that photo having no affect on me at all.
Ok, and breathe!!!! Just wanting to hear your thoughts on this particular thought that I had today :D