I hate the new anti smoking ads.

I am not a smoker, I do not advise that anyone smoke nor do I approve of smoking. As I see it we have a duty to respect not only other people but ourselves, as beings made in the image of God. For this reason we should look after ourselves and our bodies and not poison them. However I also think we should not poison our minds and that is why I hate these ads.

Consider the content; person A comes on and tells us that smoking is “so 1997” and “no one is doing it any more” note the reasons being given, don’t smoke because its no longer fashionable. Your peers are not doing it neither should you. Person B comes on and tells us that its just as fashionable, cool, popular etc to not smoke as it once was to smoke. Again the message is clear don’t smoke because not smoking is cool, popular or fashionable now. Then comes person C he tells us that people smoke because they think its cool, but people should not be themselves and not mindlessly follow the crowd.

So apparently we should not smoke because (a) its unfashionable uncool, and also (b) we should not do something because failure do so unfashionable or uncool.

I expressed my contempt for this stupidity loudly one night. And I was informed ( by a teenager) that ads were good because the people in them were well respected amongst youth culture and so whatever they said youth would listen to. That’s sad. If what she said is true the ad effectively says that you both should follow the crowd and not follow the crowd because the cool people in the crowd say so.

There are worse things than polluting your body, teaching a generation of people to pollute there minds by encouraging stupidity is far worse. This ad encourages just that. Respect for oneself means not just refraining from smoking it means respecting Gods gift of reason and learning to use it.