Friday, July 20, 2007

For all those that believe Advertising forces people to do things

The government has forced Tobacco companies for years to implement ad campaigns aimed at discouraging the use of their product. Which could be the dumbest idea I've ever fucking heard. I was in DARE as a child, for number of years police officers would come to my classes and offer a frank and comprehensive lesson on acquisition and use of illegal narcotics. It's not surprising (at least not to me) that my high school became a veritable marketplace for any and all substances people wanted to try. I often observed drug transactions in the classroom and people under the influence of carious drugs in the classroom. Why, you may as, didn't I say anything. Well of course the answer is that we spent year in similar classrooms being taught that drugs were everywhere and that they were almost impossible to avoid. Also we were taught how they were usually distributed and how they were used.

People may be shocked to learn that teenagers don't always glean the same message that adults think they are spreading. The war on drugs, like the war on tobacco has had the strange effect of moving those substances into the common experience of children. The use of alarmist advertising and scare tactics tends to attract more young people than it discourages.


Ads Gone Wrong

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