Today Tobacco. Tomorrow Guns?

[Dennis]

Here’s a glimpse of what our RKBA is in for once tobacco is “vanquished”.

(Quote bold added for stress)
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Is Thetruth.com Too Truthful?
July 4, 2000 8:15 am EST

Edgy Ads Promote Anti-Smoking Web Site To Teens

CHICAGO, JULY 3, 2000 (CBS News) - Aimed at one of America's toughest
audiences, teen-agers, ads for thetruth.com are purposely provocative. But the Web
site, CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports, doesn't actually sell
anything.

According to Pete Favat, Creative Director of Arnold Communications, "We are
trying to un-sell something. We’re trying to convince somebody not to buy
something."

The "something" Favat refers to is cigarettes.

The ads avoid preaching, but pull no punches. Teen Erin Stein reacts favorably. "It
wasn’t like some commercial that’s like 'smoking's bad for you, blah, blah, blah,
blah,'” she says of one ad. It's a version of the truth, however, others find hard to
take.

Some TV networks have chosen not to air all of the ads, including one called 'body
bag.' In a mock assault, the ad depicts protesters stacking body bags 6 feet high
around two sides of Philip Morris headquarters to represent the number of people
who die each day from tobacco-related illnesses.

Thetruth.com is sponsored by a non-profit agency, called the American Legacy
Foundation. Ironically, it is the tobacco companies that are footing the bill: its $300
million-a-year budget comes as a result of the 1998 Global Tobacco Settlement.

"I would call it poetic justice," says American Legacy Foundation CEO Cheryl
Healton. "I think the ads are very appropriate and they work."

But cigarette makers, who say they agree with the need to cut teen smoking, think
some of the ads cross the line. Philip Morris calls them "a step in the wrong
direction." Anna Santiago, a teen advisor to TheTruth.com, sees the discomfort as a
sign of success. "It tells us that our ads are good," she explains. "That they are
nervous."

Big tobacco might be worried because a similar campaign in Florida helped cut teen
smoking by 25 percent.

Advertising Age analyst Brad Johnson says thetruth.com has simply stolen a page
from Madison Avenue's playbook. “Well surprise, surprise, he says, "the
anti-smoking people are just as smart as the pro- smoking contingency and are
using heavy-handed tactics to un-sell a product.”

School is still out on how effective this bare-knuckled campaign will be nationwide,
but hard-to-reach teens appear to be noticing, and that's a big first step.
(UNquote)

How will we fight this?
Who will help us fight this?

------------------
Either you believe in the Second Amendment or you don't.
Stick it to 'em! RKBA!

 

[Bruce in West Oz]

Dennis

I feel for you, but if my experience is anything to go on, it's going to get worse long before it gets better -- if at all.

We now have:

• total ban on cigarette advertising except at point-of-sale, which must not be visible from the street

• ban on cigarette companies sponsoring sporting events

• constant all-pervasive anti-smoking media programs, especially television, which use in-your-face shock tactics that would see anyone else have their ads pulled from the air

• smoking bans in workplaces, restaurants and hotels, and all public areas -- even some outdoor events on the beach or in parks

• government-introduced price rises on a quarterly basis to keep cigarettes "out of the hands of children" (a pack of 25 is now about $8.50)

• government licences required to sell cigarettes or tobacco products

The latest we had last night is the Health Department is now employing under-18 teenagers to go into shops and try to buy cigarettes. If they get any, the shopowner loses his tobacco licence and is fined (in the order of $10 000). No, we don't have "entrapment" laws.

The program doesn't stop addicted smokers -- like me -- although the cost eventually will.

It is aimed at children -- and that's exactly what the anti-gun programs do now and will do increasingly in the future.

Cut off the new shooters, destroy the pride in gun ownership and use, denigrate, lie and instil fear in kids about guns -- and shooting and gun ownership will wither on the vine.

Then, when the current brainwashed kids are older, and in positions of authority, who will stand by your side when they decide to (in your case) repeal the 2nd Amendment?

Answer: No-one -- because it will be seen as a "good thing".

How do we stop it? B*ggered if I know, because when the antis run a program, it is "education and choice"; when we try the same it is "indoctrination and vile propaganda".

Sorry, better turn the rant off.

B