'The' Blog

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Statutory Warning ?

Every cigarette box carries this statutory warning : Cigarette smoking is injurious to health. Ever heard of one person who gave up smoking because of the warning ? What do they think ... will people go something like "Oops .. cigarette smoking is injurious to health .. shit .. I gotta quit smoking." .. ? Tell you what .. everyone who is good enough to read that warning does not need it .. he/she knows that it is harmful. It is just that those who can not read this warning may need them .. but then what is the use to write warnings for them ? They can't see much difference between the marlboro man or the warning .. except that one looks recognizable ...
Then there was this recent debate (Delhi Times , some months back) that cigarette boxes should carry bigger warning signs .. like in other countries .. but I think it is no use having the warning .. nobody ever reads what is written on the box .. the color and design of the box confirms the brand .. that is all what people see ... (ofcourse I read the warning that is why I am writing this article .. and ofcourse you read it t.. that is why you know what I am talking about .. but does it ever make a difference weather it was written or not ?)
A good idea is to include pornographic pictures/dirty jokes on the box too .. that ways at least 50% of the people will see the box .. and at least 50% of them will then read the warning .. good idea ? So elevate me to the post of Tobacco minister or whoever decides this .. I'll then have other innovative ideas like this and then I'll make this country a good place to live in ... jai hind ... (And I'll make good use of one of those red light VIP cars given to me.. that zip through the traffic .. )
So all warnings should be removed from the boxes (since no one will like my other suggestion) and the boxes should be left blank .. that will save so much ink (owing to the amount of cigarette boxes produced per year .. must be in billions .. ) .. and that will save so many trees or some other naural resource ..
But I guess I am the only one concerned about the country and the environment ..