TRUTH(TM), Snus, and U.S.A.

[ctimb2002]

I was reading one of the threads on here about bringing snus to the u.s. and it's actually a topic I am extremely interested in. Besides the fear of a huge sin tax and other worries, there has been one topic that has not been discussed thus far to my knowledge.

For those of you not familiar with this site...
www.thetruth.com

They are a group largely concerned with smokers, death, and "big tobacco". They have produced some cute T.V. ads that have been placed all over the American airwaves. If you look on youtube and search infect truth you will see countless examples of "Truth" ads. I post one below as an example.

My question is this. If snus were widely available in the U.S. and more Americans started to snus instead of smoke, would the Truth project focus on snusers? What do you think an ad would look like based on their previous work and the one posted below?

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KmAI7KQC0aI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KmAI7KQC0aI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Jason]

I would gladly risk jail time if I could have the chance to beat the shit out of the people who make those commercials. They annoy me greatly.

And yes, they would eventually attack snus.....they get their misinformation from the same sources as all of the other antis out there.

[ctimb2002]

oh cmon jason...you gotta admit the premature babies one was kinda cute...in it's own sick way. On the whole though I completely agree with you.

[Jason]

Lol, I know....that's the point of those spots; they use that cuteness to get a dark point across. I suppose that what I can't stand is the intentional (or unintentional?) irony that those happen to be the very same tactics that Big Tobacco themselves use in their advertising. The difference is that, when Truth does it, they just come off as smug, fear-mongering know-it-alls.

[ODurren]

They'll target it if it becomes popular enough. Using over killed and obliterated "truths".

I just did one of their choice thingies and one of the questions was

"Could super-talented ninja's kill 50 people per hour?"
(Cigarettes kill 50 people per hour)

TRUTH IF YOU'RE READING THIS THERE IS A HUUUUUUUUGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NINJA'S AND CIGARETTES! Keep ninja's out of your battle >.<

[dEFinitionofEPIC]

I would gladly risk jail time if I could have the chance to beat the shit out of the people who make those commercials. They annoy me greatly.

And yes, they would eventually attack snus.....they get their misinformation from the same sources as all of the other antis out there.

Hear, hear!

[pangloss]

Gaaaaah! Sorry Ct. I didn't see your thread in the health section when I started a Poll for bringing Snus to US =(

[ctimb2002]

Actually pang...i started this thread because of your thread. I was going to just post this in yours but It seemed to merit it's own discussion. So if anything i should have credited you directly and am doing so now.

[pangloss]

I disagree with the other points listed. I do not think that Snus will ever be the target of anti-tobacco ads. There may be one or two but the focus will always be on cigarettes for the following reasons:

1) Cigarettes are far more damaging to health, there is sufficient research to prove this whereas the link has not been drawn with Snus.

2) Snus will remain a niche product for at least the next decade or so. Therefore, there are bigger fish to fry and so ads will focus on the biggest bang for their buck. Namely, cigarettes b/c more people use them and they are more dangerous.

3) "Big Tobacco" and associated lobbists fight for legislation directed toward smoking. One of the purposes of these ads is to educate the public about the harms of smoking so that they can select government representatives to fight the tobacco lobbists.

4) Finally, as far as premature babies are concerned, ads will not be focused on Snus. Numerous studies have shown that this is a more popular product for men (even in sweden), and as such there are more pregnant women smoking than snusing.

Overall, ads for Snusing would be cost ineffective.

[sagedil]

What you say makes total sense. But the majority of attack pieces this past year have been aimed squarely at snus. Being marketed to children, pretty cans, candy like, that sort of thing. What they are saying makes no sense, but that has never stopped them before. I am still extremely angry at Camel for opening up this can of worms.

[jim]

Hey, but you can't knock their choice of instrument for their stupid little song. My rage at the video was melted away by the sweet sounds of the banjer.