misc sunday | smoking up a plan

When the cigarette's price went up, many people cheered.
Some shook their heads, laughing at another futile effort to battle the 'sin' of puffing, simply because cheap, smuggled cigarettes are available nationwide. Correction: easily available.

Yet, as an ardent anti-nicotinics, I must really give thumbs up for hyped-up effort in comparison to the 'Tak Nak' campaign under Tun Lah which drained out some part of public fund with only small ripples.

As a matter of trend, I guessed the biggest task at hand is to stop the marching rise of 2 particular class of smokers. The females and the youngster, which will take up more than simple message of disease prevention.

2 main things drive a woman to smoke: to keep fit (by reducing appetite) and to keep up with the trend. More women are open to smoking these days after dropping the yesteryear's notion of smoking is reserved for the bad, wild, rugged people. One thing to really cook up their distance from smoke will be how smoking would age them faster.

As for the youngsters, puffing symbolizes gaya, mutu and keunggulan, without realizing they are picking up a habit that will break the hearts of their family members, as vividly portrayed in the TV advertisement lately.

See below.


Though a good TV advertisement, the chances of seeing it on air is just appalling thin.

It is a good move to educate the people that the nicotine from the smoke not just go into the lungs, but it travels all over the body.

You just don't die after the short moment of shortness of breath from lung cancer, you have to live after your ischaemic leg got chopped off or you have to sport the hideous face after cancer eaten off some parts haphazardly.

In UK or US (if not mistaken), their campaign drummed up success against teenage smoking after picking on the nicotinic poisoning of manhood. The advertisement simply shows female teenagers laughing away at the smoking teenage boy and making hand signs acknowledging the boy's package going south, sooner or later.

Without a doubt, that kind of campaign would not have seen the light in our country due to our religious-inclination of certain quarters.

Nevertheless, religion manages to join this battle as well.

For example, how smokers were being described as lesser than a cow.

See below.



Even, the Health Department of Kedah decided to drop smokers from any award, citing medical personnel that smokes are bad example for the public.

It took them after so many years just to realize this fact.

No wonder Najip decides to drop the 'bonus for civil servant' despite cute peckings by Cuepacs.

If you wonder if I hate smokers, well, I don't.

I just prematurely sympathesize your current bad breath and teeth, current or near future sexual deprivation due to ED (and frustration that goes with it) and the future agonizing heart attacks.

For other things, I still love them for their other charismatic sides. My most enjoyable lecturer of basic sciences in my undergraduate years was a smoker. Though, I don't enjoy sitting in first few rows.