To the editor,
Gee, it was nice of Kyle Shaw to pen his “Smoking mad” editorial
last week defending The Coast’s practice of running tobacco ads. I’m
sure he had nothing better to do with his time than explain what should
have been obvious to anyone with an IQ over 40. The Coast exists
because companies pay for ads and tobacco companies are allowed to
advertise their products in a paper such as The Coast, so The Coast
accepts their ads. And why shouldn’t they? I can’t believe the bitching
and moaning that greeted these ads; you’d think the world was coming to
an end. And well it may, but certainly not because The Coast is
advertising tobacco. Pierre Trudeau famously said that government had
no place in the bedrooms of the nation. Well, I don’t think they have
any right to intrude in the marketing of a legal product to an audience
of adults. Sure, some younger people will likely get their grubby paws
on the paper, but I’m not convinced the little urchins will be making a
beeline to the nearest cigarette purveyor simply because The Coast ran
a cigarette ad.
If your sensitivities are such that merely viewing tobacco ads
causes you physical or mental pain and anguish, then cancel your
subscription. Whoops, sorry—the paper’s free, for Christ’s
sake.
—Steve Jamieson, Dartmouth
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2009.
Advertising pressures are relentless aren’t they? Prescription drug companies are pushing the boundaries in their TV advertising, just as the tobacco companies push the boundaries in their print ads. No sane society would let this happen, but unfortunately we live in a society where money trumps public health and safety. It also trumps compassion.
My wife Jane, a two-pack-a-day smoker, died on Sept. 12, 1992 from the effects of throat cancer. She was only 44. In her case, death came as a mercy. Her last year was one of physical pain and psychological trauma. She underwent the maximum allowable number of radiation treatments and eight disfiguring operations. All to no avail. We spent so much time in the Ear Nose and Throat wing of the Old Halifax Infirmary that a cashier in the cafeteria thought I was on the hospital cleaning staff.
During that year, I saw intense suffering in the ENT wing, much of it the result of smoking. I came to see it as a kind of “death row” where addicts had lots of time to suffer as they and their loved ones contemplated death.
Jane was one of about 30,000 Canadians who died in 1992 from the effects of tobacco. She got addicted as a young adult, a time when young women (and men) are especially vulnerable. She believed the cigarette advertising and smoked only “mild,” “light” and “ultra light” brands. We now know that those reassuring words mean nothing.
Advertising exists to sell things. Cigarettes are a legal product. They are also lethal. That’s why mainstream newspapers won’t carry tobacco advertising. It’s also why store owners are required to hide cigarette packages. Such restrictions — voluntary or otherwise — make sense because cigarettes are highly addictive. The young person who becomes an addict thinks about quitting — next week or next month, then hopes for a second chance when cancer comes. In Jane’s case, as in so many others, there was no second chance.