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We’ve Seen Enough Tobacco!

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I was recently looking at old pictures from when I was a kid and there is something I noticed in many of them, the presence of cigarettes. My grandparents smoked, aunts and uncles smoked, my parents even did. I can’t really fault them for it now because they were all products of eras when smoking was so prevalent and ubiquitous it was rare to see anyone without a cigarette hanging off their lip or wedged between their fingers.

We’ve Seen Enough Tobacco

I vividly remember the smell of cigarette smoke clinging to our hair and clothes when we visited our grandparents’ house. And even as an adult (before the NYC cigarette ban in bars and restaurants), I would have to wash my clothes and hair several times when I got home or everything would reek of smoke. Sure, I did my share of social smoking in my twenties, which I absolutely regret. It seems like things have dramatically changed—I mean, you certainly don’t see moms puffing away while holding their babies or pushing strollers. No one I know has a full ashtray sitting on the coffee table, but if you look closely the effort by the tobacco industry to get kids smoking (and keep adults smoking) is so clear.

We’ve Seen Enough Tobacco

When I first had Ryder I wouldn’t let anyone near him if they even smelled of smoke, let alone had a cigarette in their hand. I became a rabid anti-smoker and started to notice just how sneaky and calculated the tobacco industry was; advertising geared toward children to get them started young! It was so disgusting. Even today, the tobacco industry tries very hard to protect their bottom line, which means they are investing so much money in advertising and promotion to capture smokers at a younger and younger age.

We’ve Seen Enough Tobacco

The average age of a new smoker is 13-years-old. That statistic is even scarier when I think that Ryder is going to be nine this summer, that is four years away from 13. The Surgeon General calls smoking a “pediatric epidemic” and says, “Advertising and promotional activities by tobacco companies have been shown to cause the onset and continuation of smoking among adolescent and young adults.” The tobacco industry uses colorful, bright and bold marketing materials to appeal to kids, encouraging them to use addictive tobacco products! Tobacco addiction ruins lives—it destroys your body, impairs lung growth and development for kids and causes asthma—and in the end it will kill you.

Since becoming a mom, I have made my intolerance of cigarettes (and tobacco use) so abundantly clear to everyone, especially my kids, that I am proud to say they detest cigarettes. I couldn’t be happier about that, especially considering that the tobacco industry tries so hard to capture more life-long smokers. If they see someone smoking, they even hold their breath because they don’t even want to inhale the smoke.

We’ve Seen Enough Tobacco

My passion for a smoke-free life has led me to partner with Tobacco Free New York State to take action to protect children from tobacco promotions with the #SeenEnoughTobacco campaign. Together with Tobacco Free New York State we can keep our kids safe and smoke-free. Sign the pledge HERE because we have all #SeenEnoughTobacco!!!!

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14 thoughts on “We’ve Seen Enough Tobacco!”

  1. What a great campaign, I started smoking in my mid-teens and gave up in my mid-twenties. I wish I had never started and I am glad it is becoming harder to buy tobacco products and they are becoming more hidden from view.

  2. I think this is a good move especially since it’s going to protect the kids from smoking and second hand smoke. It’s nice to see that people are making an effort to keep our air free of smoke from cigarettes and tobacco.

  3. Good job to the people for making a move towards cleaner air and a safer environment for the kids. It’s so obvious that some ads are just targeting the younger generation.

  4. Smoking has to be the worst habit on the planet. I have never seen anything affect anyone so bad that they will risk life and limb on slick, icy roads just to get to the store and get a pack of cigarettes. Plus, when you get in a room full of smokers, it looks like someone set off a bomb in the room. It’s a disgusting habit and I don’t mind telling anyone who does it.

  5. The smell of cigarette smoke is the worst! I was crazy about people smoking around my kids too. I wouldn’t let family members who smoke hold my newborn without a blanket covering their clothes.

  6. This is a great campaign. My mom was a smoker and did it all around me when I was a kid. she actually passed away from lung cancer when I was 16. So, this is something I feel so strongly about.

  7. This campaign is such a good one! So many people smoke and I agree that it starts from a generational thing of watching others smoke but the cigarette companies don’t care who starts or how young I am sure.

  8. Amy Desrosiers

    Ughh, I hate cigarettes so much! It use to bother me so much that my father smoked. I would try to get him to stop at every chance.

  9. What an amazing campaign. I absolutely support this 100%. It so bothered me when my mom smoked as I was growing up. I vowed never to try it. She did quit when I was a teen.

  10. I support this campaign. Advertisements for tobacco products increases a child’s curiosity to try smoking. I think television ads for tobacco products should also be only during the hours that kids are already in bed.

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