Health and Lifestyle - Toxic Cycle

'Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable death in England, accounting for 80,000 deaths each year. One in two smokers will die from a smoking-related disease.'

Early 2014 the NHS stop smoking service, Smokefree, released a new advertisement to encourage smokers to stop smoking. As a smoker myself, I find it ridiculous when on a packet of cigarettes, they have to put warning like 'Smoking kills'. These visual reminders do nothing but annoy me. I know smoking can and does kill. Everyone knows this fact. If you want to get a smoker to stop smoking, one disengaging picture is not going to help. However, one thing that does make me think is the video. Actually seeing the smoke travel through the body and react with different organs makes people really think about what the product is doing to them. The latest video advertisement, 'Toxic Cycle' shows the reaction of smoke, in a way that almost makes you physically want to be sick. The grotesque imagery shocks viewers to think more about what they are actually doing to themselves. The video also ends with links as to where to get advice if you want to quit. More often than not, links to stop smoking sites or helpful advice is also withheld from the cigarette packets. The video ad seems to be the only consistent and effective way to encourage people to stop smoking. Although, if I'm being completely honest, I would love for the video to go into greater deepth and explore more issues, or contain even more grotesque imagery - this could really effect the behaviour of many smokers. 

As much as I wanted more from the video itself, it's made me think about smoking more - that's all they really want, is to get people to think about the damage it can do.

Information found via;

http://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/why-quit/smoking-health-problems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Ul9QIfBno