A judge struck down a federally proposed requirement that cigarette packages be covered with graphic images depicting the health consequences of smoking in a federal appeals court Monday.
The images are highly unsettling and include pictures of dead smokers or bodies riddled with smoking-related diseases, with the clear intent of intimidating smokers into taking the initiative to quit. Tobacco companies are currently in the middle of a lawsuit over the stipulation, but until the lawsuit is resolved, the court has ordered that the images be removed from labels.
The placement of images of this nature seems eerily similar to threatening taunts from a bully, as pure as the government’s intentions are with the message. All smokers in this day and age fully understand the consequences of their actions without a gruesome reminder from the federal government. The dangers of smoking have been highly publicized over the past few decades and rammed down consumers’ throats, pardon the pun, with anti-smoking ads, programs in schools and Surgeon General’s warnings accompanying every cigarette label. Even after all of that, it is a person’s choice to smoke if they are old enough, and there are better, more tactful methods of helping people stop smoking without unnecessarily graphic imagery.
Part of the government requirement is that the labels include a hotline to quit smoking, which is a helpful and less incendiary tactic than the images. Additionally, if these images were to be implemented to scare children away from taking up the habit, the government should reallocate the funds set aside for the image production and funnel more money into anti-smoking education in public schools.
Every day, Americans purchase items harmful to their health. Not all of these items need an accompaniment of an illustration of the consequences, so why should cigarettes be any different? The growing problem of obesity in the United States is not combated with pasting pictures of overweight people on Coke cans; the mere thought is ridiculous. Moreover, it does not seem fair to tobacco companies for the government to render their product completely unmarketable. This is not to say that we should support the endeavors of the tobacco companies, but they simply cannot be regulated out of existence because it goes against the ideal of the free market.
People know that smoking is bad for their health, and no amount of imagery of throat cancer victims is going to do anything more to increase awareness. Yes, perhaps it helps to dramatize the message, but methods this tactless and graphic need not be implemented to reach an audience that already knows the reason behind them.
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