Re: cigarette pack warnings

On 6/22/2011 7:37 PM, David Sless wrote:

> Second, like much government communication of this type, it falls far more comfortably into the ritual of display rather than any notion of effective communication.

I was going to respond by questioning whether or not the U.S. 
government can afford any more ineffective communications rituals of 
this sort (i.e., in this new era of fiscal austerity, when all sorts 
of life-saving medical services are being cut across the country, we 
no longer have money to throw away on more either/or public policy 
campaigns, and need to learn instead how to craft both/and medical 
communications that artfully combine affect + effect).

But then today's (Sunday, 26 June 2011) _Los Angeles Times_ ran a very 
interesting feature:

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-smoking-barb-tarbox-20110626,0,7948435,full.story

which makes me think there may be some hope for this anti-smoking 
campaign yet.

Melissa Healy's _LA Times_ article provides new information about the 
research used for public-policy decision-making in the U.S., and 
includes reproductions of another picture from the original 36

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-smoking-barb-tarbox-photos,0,7257673.photogallery
(images #2 and #3 in the slideshow)

which was rejected by the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) 
because "it went too far". (I suppose it could, however, make the cut 
the next time around, since "a fresh crop may be chosen in as little 
as a year".)

I think this is a pretty powerful & haunting image (because there's a 
compelling narrative here, which the 9 chosen images lack, and because 
it doesn't require much of an imaginative leap to see yourself or 
someone you know in this photograph, regardless of how old you are).

I still don't think that an image (with accompanying textual warning: 
"Cigarettes cause cancer.") is enough to

	"persuade a person to change his or her behavior"

but must admit that if there is such an image, the Canadian version of 
Barb Tarbox's deathbed picture (with more explicit message: "This is 
what dying of lung cancer looks like.") would be it.

So, even though our federal officials thought the U.S. consuming 
public couldn't handle such truth in advertising, they may get there 
yet = succeed in changing the visual culture around smoking with this 
campaign (and that's half the battle! ;-).

Deborah
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Deborah Taylor-Pearce
[email protected]
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