This has to be one of the most sanctimonious commercials ever made. They act like some girl smoking a cigarette on her balcony is going to send the smoke on a seek-and-destroy mission to murder a baby in an adjacent apartment, with the smoke having to go through an obstacle course in order to reach the infant. That’s ridiculous! Smoke goes upwards, and it’s actually physically impossible for the smoke to do what’s going on in this ad! They actually show the smoke opening windows and doors, snaking horizontally down hallways, and then honing in on the baby, after which targeting it defies the laws of gravity to lower itself down on the baby like a phantom! This is such shameless propaganda, they’re simply handing ammunition to their causes’ opponents by running it on TV. How stupid can you get?
Never mind the fact that they’re completely missing the point here and misrepresenting what’s actually going on in this scenario. Look, most people don’t realize this, but babies have telekinetic abilities that they forget how to use once they learn language skills. That’s why the smoke is able to go through all the windows, doors, etc.: the baby is opening them! You see, babies like to watch the smoke dance around in front of them for entertainment, since they don’t understand the TV yet, so they make the smoke do what they want in front of their faces, kind of like a guy making a cobra dance by playing a recorder or a flute. And the fact that the smoke is dangerous is what makes it so exciting to the babies, kind of like the cobra being a poisonous snake is what makes it so amazing when the guy plays the recorder to make the snake dance. And I know you’ll say that the baby can’t do it without the cigarette smoke, but without the smokers, the babies will burn down your house to get the smoke to play with, and you’ll all be killed horribly! So you really ought to let some people smoke if you want to live! And it’s either that, or banning babies, so it’s your choice.
Okay, so that’s just a ridiculous joke, but these ads are really dumb. For decades, most Americans smoked, and that means that most babies grew up around constant cigarette smoke for decades. Most of these babies were fine. In fact, many smokers are fine, too. I had a great aunt who smoked over a pack a day for most of her life until she died well into her 90s (!). So smoking is definitely bad for you, and you probably shouldn’t do it indoors around others who don’t smoke, especially babies and little kids: fine. But this ad says it’s not even okay to have a cigarette on a balcony once in a while? Are they crazy or something? If you want to encourage people to quit smoking, that's good; but trying to guilt trip them into it with something like this is completely wrong-headed. How about some positive encouragement about what you'll get out of life if you quit smoking, rather than trying to say that smokers are always murdering babies (!!)? (I wonder if the people who made this ad are pro-choice, because I'll bet pro-lifers could make an ad like this about them! And this ad might start to give them some ideas, so cut it out, please!)
This is a stupid lie which will put more people in danger by forcing smokers to smoke indoors, which will lead to more apartment building fires that kill lots more people. This fascist anti-smoking group, which is getting legislation passed as well that makes it illegal to smoke outdoors where all the car exhaust already is (!?), is trying to exaggerate this issue to the point where nobody will even take the legitimate dangers of smoking seriously anymore, and to where smokers will smoke extra cigarettes just to rebel against them and their dishonest propaganda (which is all this is: dishonest propaganda. And they should be ashamed of themselves for resorting to this!). And in the end, it may well be counterproductive and lead to a backlash.
Yes, I hate to say it, but many smokers are young people who like to sleep late, and if they live next to a baby, it’s probably constantly crying and waking them up. So when they see this ad, they might just say: “Hey, I hate babies! So I can harm them by smoking on the balcony? Then I can get revenge for all the times they wake me up! Awesome!” And many smokers are real contrarians too, so anti-smoking stuff just makes them want to smoke more, especially when it’s really shameless like this is.
It’s really better to be honest if you want to convince people, rather than exaggerate things to where everyone knows you’re full of crap. There are some really good positive reasons to want to quit smoking! I used to smoke years ago, but I quit, and life is much better without cigarettes. But I might never have quit if bullies tried to accuse me of killing babies anytime I had a cigarette. Smokers are used to abuse from health bullies who want to make everyone behave, so they take it as an attack for which there must be a counter-attack, as in smoking lots more and blowing it in people's faces. So if you want people to quit, show them what nice things they can have once they're tobacco free: like that beautiful girl who doesn't smoke, or that jog on the beach, or that productive day without having to stand outside every hour to smoke, etc. But this type of emotional blackmail will be rejected every time by smokers: this I guarantee you. Especially when it's an extreme exaggeration, like this is.
The silly ads are here, but you have to select the one that says “Secondhand Sally” to see the one I’m talking about (but they’re all ridiculously over-hyped bullsh*t):
BTW: I am so glad these ads are online: otherwise, people in other states and countries might think I’m lying about what a ridiculous exaggeration this ad is!
