How About Warning Labels for Ballots?

What happens when idiot politicians get hold of lousy science about Hollywood? Guess!

Attorneys general from 32 states signed a letter sent this week to 10 movie studios asking executives to add anti-smoking public service announcements to all home-viewing releases that depict smoking.

"We're urging (studios) to do more," said Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., author of the letter.

"The industry's leaders are responsible Americans," he said, "and I'm sure they're just as concerned about the health of their children as the doctors are."

Maybe Bollywood really is taking over….

Comments

[Jim "Dept. Of Redundancy Dept.]

I could make a joke here about the phrase "idiot politician" being redundant, but nah...

[Homeland Stupidity]

Just when I had put out my cigarette, too. This makes me want to light up another one....

[thoreau]

Homeland Stupidity-

I love your handle!

Almost as good as "Gimme back my dog"

[jf]

I'm impatiently waiting for joe to explain how great this is because it prevents him from having to discuss with his kid that smoking is bad.

This despite the fact that I agree with him in the previouse thread that the HarperCollins deal isn't as bad as some on here are making it out to be, although I do disagree with his reasoning. (I don't want to tell my 3-year-old that smoking is bad! She should be shielded from knowing that smoking exists!)

[Rick Barton]

Another thread about smoking...

Full disclosure: I've never smoked tobacco and I think that the overwhelming evidence is that doing so is hideous for your health. "Upset" would not begin to convey my emotional state if either of my two children, who are university students, started smoking tobacco.

How About Warning Labels for Ballots?

Hear, hear!!

Busy bodies with government power are a serious threat to our liberty!

Hey Attorneys general, prosecute real crime, that which involves force or fraud. Don't misspend the taxpayer's money attacking liberty!

[Hakluyt]

Warning: Larks' Vomit!

[Allen]

Crunchy frog, lightly killed

[Hakluyt]

Allen,

Aren't the frogs flown in from Iraq? 🙂

[mediageek]

Yeah, but if they have to put a warning label on the Spring Surprise, then it won't be a surprise any more.

8-(

[scape]

Before the feature presentation we'd like to take this opportunity to tell all the kids watching that smoking is bad. Please don't start. It will kill you. We're telling you this because we are concerned about your health. Now, before the show starts make sure you get your 1/2 gallon soda, butter drenched bucket of super salted popcorn and the 2 pound, Triple-King sized Milk Duds. But be sure to exercise afterwards. Because we care.

[Stretch]

Hasn't Hollywood at large already relegated smoking to an act of villainy? If the images on the screen are so powerful as to turn kids into raving nicotine addicts, then kids should already know that smoking cigarettes is something that only bad people do.

And this is one of the more transparent "for the children" excuses, as I can't think of any kid's movie that features smoking and if you're letting your child watch R rated movies I don't think a PSA is going to do anything.

[bbridges]

May I suggest an all-in-one PSA which illustrates the dangers of smoking, drinking, drugs, alchohol, sloth, kidnapping, murder, warp 15 space flights, yelling and a generally negative worldview?

I've probably only touched on a tip of the list of dangers the gullible public needs to be made aware of but at least it is a start.

[Bobster]

My wife and I do not smoke, nor does our 10-year-old daughter. My dad and mom, her grandparents, do smoke. So do many of her aunts and uncles. My family is pretty close and my daughter sees many these relatives each week. They smoke right in front of her! "GASP!"

Not once have I had to tell her that smoking is bad or that it will kill her. She has never brought it up. If she does, I will tell her that when she is older she will be able to decide for herself if she wants to smoke or not.

I don't think airbrushing cig's out of pictures or giving a public service announcement makes any difference at all. As long as the government is not forcing it and I don't have to pay for it I really don't care either way.

[Bobster]

Also, on the previous post I think Joe, said:

Call it more evidence of the wisdom of the free market that HarperCollins, who make so much money selling books for children, have such a good understanding of how children's minds work.

To hear Joe say this brings hope to my heart. Now when a smoking ban law gets started and a bar owner resists it saying "the wisdom of the free market says I should be able to allow smoking in my establishment. I have a good understanding of how bar patron's minds work." Joe will side with him. If we can get everyone to understand this concept life will be good.

[Ed]

The PSA will be effective only if it disables the ability to fast-forward it. I certainly hope the fascists I mean attorneys general have thought of this. Hate to think they're stupid or incompetent.

[Rhywun]

I am living proof that the presence of cigarettes in media has no effect whatsoever on kids' taking up smoking. My mom smoked - I hated it. I probably saw about a billion cigarettes on tv growing up - none of which made me feel like lighting up. I worked in an office after school in high school - where there was smoking. No, what caused me to start smoking was my friend and I running out of pot one semester in college and we were looking for something else to "do". Stupid? Sure. Whatever. But anyone who thinks that smoking is caused by anything other than good ol' peer pressure is deluded.

[Russ D]

If you combine this overreaction to cigarettes from state AG's to the overreaction to basically everything from our current federal gang of ultra-conservative justice department nincompoops, I'm sure we'll wind up with a twist on the old anti-pot ads from the 70's:

Why do you think they call them fags?

[JD]

Warning labels for ballots? How about "May contain nuts"? (Thank you, I'll be here all week...don't forget to tip your waitress.)

[crimethink]

And this is one of the more transparent "for the children" excuses, as I can't think of any kid's movie that features smoking and if you're letting your child watch R rated movies I don't think a PSA is going to do anything.

Well, each of the Lord of the Rings films featured the smoking of pipeweed, yet escaped with a PG-13...

[James Kabala]

We should compliment the 18 attorneys general with the guts not to sign this letter (although chances are that they'll be pressured into jumping on the bandwagon eventually).

[Jeff P.]

Can an Attorney General be impeached for incompetance? This is Star Fucking, pure and simple. Legislating the morality of vacuuous entertainment is one step shy of jerking off Mr. Movie Phone if he plugs a new zoning law.
Why don't they investigate the medical ethics of "dentists" who provide celebrities with full-mouth dental implants?
Plus, we've seen how effective lawmakers were with the whole Steroid thing.

[mediageek]

I think this is a good thing. As it is now, I only have enough time to meander into the kitchen to prepare a sandwich and drink during the FBI anti-piracy warning (that you can't fast forward through.)

Between the FBI warning and these new anti-smoking ads, I should be able to actually make a baked hoagie.

Things keep up like this, I'll be able to prepare a five course meal before the warnings are over.

[Rhywun]

I'd be willing to trade a 30-second nanny-spot for all those goddamn commercials they're putting on DVD's now.

[Stretch]

Well, each of the Lord of the Rings films featured the smoking of pipeweed, yet escaped with a PG-13...

True, but PG-13 has always been a grey area. In the case of LotR, I would say that the violence is much more prevalent than smoking. Plus, cigarettes are singled out by our society as uniquely evil.

My basic point is why does this PSA have to run on every release that features smoking if it's truly "for the kids"?

[sage]

I'm so glad I live in Washington state. Now I can bring my daughter to a public place and not have to worry about her tender eyes taking in an image of someone smoking a cigarette outside the door - on purpose, no less! If this keeps up, maybe I can take the blindfold off of her in the car. You know, so she won't see other drivers smoking. I think the real challenge is making sure that she never sets foot in a store that sells tobacco. That's been a tough one.

[Adriaan]

Society also seems to have a problem differentiating between light and heavy use of things that are generally bad for us.

I assume that _any_ smoking in a movie would show this PSA.

There's a big difference between someone who has a cig. or a pipe every month or so, and someone who is smoking a pack a day.

The same rationale applies to most risky behaviors Addiction plays a factor, but, again, different people find different activities more or less addictive.

So why is it that the only choices we are presented with are abstinence or evil? Why do we persist in seeing every issue in terms of two mutually exclusive positions? The real world doesn't work like that.

So we create a society of people who do 'bad' things in moderation, who pretend to be 'good', but secretly know they are 'evil'. What a way to live.

[Larry A]

Between the FBI warning and these new anti-smoking ads, I should be able to actually make a baked hoagie.

My recent rentals have also featured an anti-downloading/piracy message. Somehow I don't think that was government-inspired.

long as the government is not forcing it and I don't have to pay for it I really don't care either way.

Any time 32 AGs sign a letter urging an action there's an implied "or else."

[Bobster]

...what caused me to start smoking was my friend and I running out of pot one semester in college and we were looking for something else to "do".

So pot is a gateway drug after all! 🙂

[Paul]

Just have the effects department airbrush 'em out... what's the big deal?

[Paul]

My family is pretty close and my daughter sees many these relatives each week. They smoke right in front of her! "GASP!"

Not once have I had to tell her that smoking is bad or that it will kill her.She has never brought it up. If she does, I will tell her that when she is older she will be able to decide for herself if she wants to smoke or not.

No, no, no, no. It's not your job as a parent to handle these things. It's society's job to airbrush, warn, steer, tax and policy your daughters way to proper behaviour.

[Larry A]

So why is it that the only choices we are presented with are abstinence or evil? Why do we persist in seeing every issue in terms of two mutually exclusive positions?

What do you mean, "We?"

The activists engaged in these prohibition movements tend to be absolutists who see anything but abstention as "evil," but I daresay few of those posting on H&R agree with them.