By Christian Cotroneo
Health Minister Allan Rock is strapping his message to the back of a Camel.
But Camels won’t be the only brand of cigarettes carrying disturbing new warning labels about the perils of tobacco.
While claiming to educate Canadians about the realities of smoking, Rock isn’t pulling any punches in his nation-wide gross-out campaign. Packages will feature large, full-colour spreads of black tongues and bloody lungs.
Rock assumes that Canadians need pictures with their education. Are there any smoking myths that have yet to debunked? Does everyone understand that tobacco is not a part of a balanced breakfast? One survey estimates that smokers read the package warnings an average of 1.7 times a day.
The authoritarian messages currently draped across the packs don’t appear to be doing the trick. Teenage smoking has actually risen as kids rebel against the Orwellian decrees.
So what happens when the grisly gallery grows stale?
The Rock says: Bigger. Uglier.
But while putrefying the packaging, Rock neglects the rest of the presentation. Cigarettes can be found in brightly lit displays, sharing the aura of legitimacy with stamps, lottery tickets and jawbreakers.
Some of these pictures might scandalize a jury, but over two billion packages a year could soon bear witness to the sermon of the Rock.
By riding the backs of cigarette packs, Rock’s morality campaign certainly has scope. And it won’t cost a penny. The tobacco industry, long-accustomed to its role as society’s whipping boy, will graciously finance the entire campaign.
But while terrifying us with packaging, the government continues to lend legitimacy to the product. Tinkering with the label doesn’t change the fact that cigarettes are widely available. Alcohol, which is currently not required to carry images of bleeding livers, vacant stares and abandoned children, is sold in very specific locations.
Cigarettes can be purchased from a bowling alley attendant.
Like many political punches, the mixed messages make for a shallow solution. Smoking kills and the government cares — but not enough to keep it off the market. A free society doesn’t always know what’s best for it. Rock wants a slightly coerced choice. Once the smoke clears, however, Canadians may be coughing to the beat of a slightly coerced democracy.