A few hours ago I took a survey asking me to look at some anti‐tobacco warnings and then estimating how many tobacco smokers vs. non‐smokers will suffer the risks.
I don’t think that grown‐ups take up smoking simply because they’re unaware of just how awful it is for them. I think that they usually turn to smoking because it’s a crude coping mechanism and they don’t love living. Think about it: if life sucks anyway, how much difference would avoiding an unhealthy habit like smoking make?
Reducing tobacco consumption is a fine goal, but anti‐tobacco groups (or at least the ones that I’ve seen) go about it completely the wrong way. I think that raising living standards, or maybe even just messages with more positivity and empathy, would have a more substantial effect than giant warnings and photos of hideously deformed organs.
Fun fact: The US has by far the lowest rates of tobacco consumption among exploiter states and still has easily the worst health outcomes overall. The massive drop in tobacco usage in the US is one of the big public health “victories” and has basically done nothing to improve population health overall.