To be angry at the "I 'm scared my dad will did" smoking advert was shown at the cinema yesterday during a PG film?

[Notalone]

I fully understand the purpose of the advert, I really do, but I also feel it is installing fear that wasn't there before into children.

I took DS to the cinema yesterday to see a PG and there were lots of children there. This advert came on and it really scared DS as DP smokes. I gave up smoking a while ago and I am aware that smoking is stupid, dangerous etc but I cannot force DP to give up until he is ready. However DS is now convinced his dad is going to die soon. I feel these adverts may well have kids all over the country terrified and tbh this makes me angry as it is not fair on them. What do you think?

I agree with piscesmoon and nooka.

Their parents' behaviour is the scary thing. The message that smoking kills is everywhere so picking on one ad in particular seems a little pointless. A 6 yr old could read the warning on a packet of fags and be just as scared or have some sort of health education in school and find out that way.

The ad is not a problem for children who's parents don't smoke. For them it is just another reminder that it is a stupid thing for them to do in the first place. Hopefully it will stay with them when they are old enough to be faced with making a choice about smoking themselves.

Haven't read all the thread, so sorry if I'm repeating.

I think the ad is intended to 'guilt-trip' adults into putting their children's feelings first, but also as has already been said, to show children the link between smoking and death. Which I think is a good thing.

My 7yo DS hates smoking and knows it's a killer.

Her godfather visted recently and was smoking. She said "Do you want to die" to him!

(I'm an ex-smoker)

I agree that the ad is not a problem for children whose parents do not smoke.

But that line fails completely to take account of the hurt caused to children who have parents who do smoke and do not give up. Of course the parents are to blame. But I fail to agree that the government should collude in the continued hurt to these children. The children of smokers are being targeted just as much as the parents, and the children have no control over what their parents do. And that is wrong.

The advert is almost putting the responsibility of getting the parent to quite by the child.

When are the My dad is obese I'm worried he is going to die adverts coming out

that of course should be quit not quite

'think the ad is intended to 'guilt-trip' adults into putting their children's feelings first'

And so they should! Most 5 yrs old can quite easily read 'smoking kills' on a packet-surely that is just as frightening?
A parent who is obese knows the dangers and should be going to the doctors and doing something to change.

It is definitely guilt tripping adults into putting children first - I don't have a problem with that. Asking nicely won't get people to give up. Asking them to give up for the sake of their health doesn't make them give up.

Why not try getting children to ask them to give up? Maybe that will tip the balance.

If you are a smoker and your children are scared by the messages perhaps it is time to stop thinking of your own wants and consider the needs of your children. If having to explain yourself and that you aren't going to die tomorrow helps with that process that is fine too.

I don't have a problem with that as a way of dealing with obesity either. My only reservation is that over-eating is a much more complex issue than smoking. You can just give up smoking if you have a mind to. You can't just give up eating and nobody wants to the opposite problem of a rise in anorexics.

about 2 ? months ago when the mummy part of this ad started my little girl stoped sleeping at night and turned into an EMO 7 year old lol
it got so bad she had to take a day off school cos she was up all night stressing!
anyway the only thing i couold do was stop smoking its been over a mounth now i have not had any probs cravings ect ..BUT my little girl said to me last night i saved your life mum .......... how do u explane that im still going to die one day? i hate that anti smoking campaines are amed at kids pushing the message, the advert before with the little lad pertending to smoke in the mirror got my freinds little one acting out smoking crayons! and her little one was never even around anyone smoking (other than in the street really.

I am and have always been a non-smoker.I really don't think it is fair burdening little children with the worry their parents are going to die.True ,it might persuade some pareents to strop ,but mostly it won't.Some people just can't. some people don't want to.

Even worse are the ads that imply you will die from eating a Mr Kiplings bakewell tart or playing on a playstation.

it's not really on to show at a cinema where you can't escape. has anyone complained to advertising standards?

We don't smoke. These ads freaked out DD1.

Especially because you can't really say, 'Oh, I don't smoke, so I won't die.'

Well, Jade Goody didn't smoke and she's about to die. Natasha Richardson didn't smoke and she might die. Princess Di didn't smoke and she died.

It happens and it's a nightmare for children no matter what but it's completely NOT ON to frighten children like this.

Not on and I'll continue to complain.

They need to find a better way to stop people smoking and eating and drinking themselves to death so they can all live longer to pay taxes and bail out the banks.

butitsfoodsoitsdifferent

Nobody is disputing that obesity is not dangerous, I'm not anyway, but it is a different case - the solutions are not the same. You can, if you want to, just stop smoking and the improvement in your health begins almost immediately. You can't stop eating. Not only that, on the whole, 4 yr olds don't smoke but they do have to eat.

Obesity may be as dangerous as smoking but according to the article that statistic refers to severe obesity which relates to 2% of the population. Compare that to approximately 20% of the population who smoke - a different magnitude of problem altogether. At the moment at least.

I don't see any problem with having ads similar to the smoking ones for obesity if they are proven to work.

children should not be ;freaked' out by death

maybe it is that we need to address

in our culture death is the ultimate taboo

my five year old brings it up a LOT atm i am ok with that - he is 5 - they go through this phase

they grow out of it though too....

the advert is trying to cause a stir - impact upon the child because sadly far too many folk wont do it for themselves..

I am all in favour of advertising campaigns to warn about the dangers of obesity,excessive drinking and smoking. All of these things are dangerous, so why not tell it like it is? Why shouldn't children have a right to know the truth? Why are some people apparently quite happy to deal with the truths about the dangers of obesity but not the dangers of smoking? Smacks of wanting to pick and choose to me!

There are lots of ways that people are encouraged to stop smoking, of which this campaign will be a small part (other things are advice from virtually every health professional that you meet, posters pretty much everywhere, warning s on packs, health promotion in schools, subsidized smoking cessation aids, telephone lines, on-line advice, counseling in groups and on your own, groups, drugs, banning smoking in more and more places, not allowing people to smoke on TV etc etc). But shocking adverts on TV (I don't know what sort of stats the cinema versions have) have been found to have some effect too. In a month or two they will try something different, because the effectiveness doesn't last.

I think it is rather sweet that dislexicicecream's dd thinks she has had such a positive impact on her mum's life. Surely something to celebrate? I don't think that it is at all healthy to pretend that anyone is not going to die. Death is as much part of life as birth after all.

My children have no idea who any of the people are who you listed expat (although they did experience my niece dying a few years ago, and know that their grandmother died long before they were born), and I really can't see how a few dead or dying celebs are relevant to this particular conversation. The point of the ad is not that as a smoker you are going to die, but that your children here and now are frightened.

if everyone complains (and there seem to be a few who would) it'll be taken off.

it's within our rights to complain even if some could argue that it should be shown.

i personally feel it's manipulation through the child and in all honesty they aren't illegal.

maybe they should do one for skiing

Update update:

here

personally I think this is the right decision.

I'm monkey's DH, i'm told it means dear husband and not the more usual greeting we get''' dickhead. Sorry,it was the effect of that advert that my DSS&DS saw that got them hounding me to give up....that and the realization that in about a weeks time I'll have a new daughter to enjoy. Couldn't do patches- too hairy(my DSD calls me her Gorilla), the natural history museum calls me the missing link!Cant do gum or lozenges-i may as well go lick out all the ash trays- it's the same taste.Back to the question? Yes it terrified Dss, his real dad's a very ill man and i guess he REALLY does want to have me around. HTMBO loves kissing me again, i can wear the same clothes 2 days on the trot-if HTMBO doesn't catch me.THEY work, and that's good enough for me...

In a similar vein, I was a bit at the new advert about portion sizes. Obviously it's aimed at children (with plasticine figures and bright colours), but the message is essentially aimed at parents: don't feed your child more than it can eat. What concerns me is it has this whole "if you feed me too much, I'll get FAT (they have fat building up to emphasise this, into big eltters), and be at risk from heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes when I grow up". Is this really necessary?