Welcome to the 'Smokefree Generation'
Monday, September 14, 2009 
Do you remember this advertisement? It's part of a "powerful new Department of Health campaign aimed at getting loved ones to stop smoking". The campaign "features real children, not actors, talking about how concerned they are about their parents’ smoking".
Here's an example of how it works.
Molly from Hammersmith in London said:
“Hi mum, I know you’re watching Coronation Street. I don’t want you to smoke because I don’t want you to go through what your mum went through. Because it will just make me really, really sad and because I don’t want you to die. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Voiceover: Your smoking affects your loved ones more than you think. For help quitting, call 0800 121 6383 or visit nhs.uk/smokefree
According to a press release issued today by the DH:
A new ‘Smokefree Generation’ of children say that they will never try a cigarette, think that smoking is really uncool and are increasingly worried about the health of smoking parents according to new research conducted on behalf of NHS Stop Smoking Services.
Other "key findings" include:
- Almost all (96%) children with a smoking parent wish that they would quit.
- Nine out of 10 children surveyed have never tried a cigarette, with 91% of these believing that they will never try one.
- Nearly two-thirds (64%) of children whose parents smoke would rather their parents quit smoking than give them more pocket money.
- More than 9 out of 10 children think that older people who smoke don’t look cool.
- One in 4 children (27%) believe that smoking could be extinct by 2030.
The DH reports that "This emerging picture of the first ‘Smokefree Generation’ is backed up by the latest Information Centre statistics on tobacco which show that regular smoking among 11 to 15 year olds has halved since its peak in the mid 1990s."
I'll leave you to comment.
Reader Comments (31)
■More than 9 out of 10 children think that older people who smoke don’t look cool.
I'm surprised it isn't 11 out of 10, and what's with the word 'cool', appealing to the 'yoof' - eh?
■One in 4 children (27%) believe that smoking could be extinct by 2030.
After all the nannying by this Labour dung-heap...won't the whole damn country be extinct!
99.5% of children say that they haven't been influenced by anti-smoking propaganda in any way.
The remainder (0.5%) think that they may have been influenced 'just a little'.
A majority (79%) think that public torture would be 'a good thing' if it helped grown-ups give up.
A slightly smaller number (61%) thought that torture would still be a good idea - even if it didn't help grown-ups to give up - because 'it would be fun to watch, anyway'.
PS:
Why does the phrase, 'The Midwich Cuckoos', suddenly spring to mind.......?
“I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Molly should learn that one day she will have to do without her mum, her mum will die one day no matter what.
Sounds hash but 100% true.
Can the Department of Health confirm that the photographer of the young boy was CRB and/or ISA checked?
I feel a Freedom Of Information Request coming on.
Go for it, Dave !
In the meantime, I'm positively struggling NOT to punch the monitor every time I see that little runt's fizzog...........
I'm not sure that there's much need to be worried about the kids. Last year I was staying with a friend and her 16-year-old son astonished me one day by asking if I had any tobacco that he could smoke. I'd have never dared ask such a question of an adult when I was 16! It was rather heartwarming.
My guess is that most kids don't take very long to see through the lies they're being told.
It's the adults who worry me the most.
Its an absolute disgrace when the Dept of Health have to stoop so low by brainwashing innocent children to promote their scaremongering and lies and causing a divide and fear in families.
And its a worse disgrace when their spin doctors who are paid millions, who when they have run out of shock tactics, have to scrape the bottom of the barrel by copying KGB tactics to get their lying message across to the unsuspecting public.
This scandal was the very reason why Declan Ganley of Libertas rejoined the campaign against the Yes side on the Lisbon treaty.
He said that the final insult was when he saw senior EU Commission bureaucrats
going into schools peddling Yes-side propaganda to children.
And he said that's a line that should never have been crossed.
At least one person was outraged!
Hitler never used children for propaganda purposes. Or did he?
Surely it must be child abuse to manipulate children into parroting propaganda. Children should not be made to feel responsible for their parent's health. Could cause huge distress. Is the ISA going to put DOH on a Register for this dubious activity ?
And what a waste of our money this ad is.
Hitler used the same method, he used the children to inform on their parents.
If you are not the type of person our gov. wants you to be, you will be targeted, taxed, fined, humiliated, by whatever means they can use, even using the children.
It is little wonder that the youth are rebelling? they are being used as little soldiers of Gov.
Anyone with a bit of whit would be able to look at 'our leaders' and laugh at their brass neck.
Smoking, Drinking, Fat, Sex Mad, Power Freaks, War Mongers, Bankers friends, better known as The Ruling Elite
However:
A poll of 1,000 children in England aged 8-13 conducted on behalf of NHS Stop Smoking Services found that:
Look at the age group that was surveyed.
And then we see this:
nine out of 10 have never tried a cigarette, and 91 per cent of these hope never to try one.
That means 10% of 8 to 13 year olds smoke.
He'll probably be on telly again in 6 years time whining about how damaging his cocaine habit was.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of children whose parents smoke would rather their parents quit smoking than give them more pocket money.
The other 36% get more than enough pocket money.
im timmy and im ten i wish my daddy wood stop smowkin cuz mi teache sais hees gonna die so its not proper-gandar its TROO u idiots. mi teache is called mrs johnson shes a bit fat but shes okay so long as u downt creep up on her from bihind or arsk orkwood qwestyuns
filthy smowkers are idiots and shuld be tautyured in mi opinion becuz thayr stupid apart from mi dad hees less stupid now mums made him promis to go smowkfree WOOHOO
timmy -
What a nice letter !
Have you heard of a 'Mr Cameron' ?
He runs a Youth Club called 'The Conservative Party', and I know he'd love you to join.
But you MUST be over 7, and do what you are told. He doesn't like naughty boys or girls, and gets VERY cross when they misbehave.
Would you like me to write to him (but do ask Mummy first, please) ?
Do let me know................
Sorry, Simon, the post that you deleted was a bit long, but I thought that when you said, "I'll leave you to comment", you meant that we could comment at length!
Anyway, the points that I made have been covered.
I suppose that everybody noticed the curious fact the 'use of children' report and the 'fall in heart attacks' report both appeared in the press on the same day? What a co-incidence!
Ann -
Re:
"At least one person was outraged!"
But ONLY because he KNEW what was going on.
Most people are totally clueless - thanks in no small measure to a 'Media' that nowadays consistently fails to perform its most important function in a Free Society.
Which is NOT Entertainment.
And now Mr Murdoch and his pals have the Internet in their cross-hairs........
I am sick of my money being used against me in this way. This is bullying and exploitation of children. This political lobby group doesn't deserve the unelected power it gets and the elected politicians who pamper to this outrageous prejudice, should lose all their support.
We, the people, must start fighting back against these idiots. I will be out on the streets campaigning against them as soon as the next general election date is announced. If NuLab get in again, I'll either hang myself from the nearest lamp post or emigrate to Zimbabwe where life is just a tad more libertarian.
The sort of people who hide behind children really do make me sick. Cowards and bullies all!!!
Very well said Pat - I totally agree with your sentiments.
What makes me even more sick is the way they USE children in this way. AND that includes the young actors playing these parts.
Ah but:
'EXITUS ACTA PROBAT' !
Which may be roughly (very 'roughly' ) translated as:
"If we get a result - then sod the ethics !"
A familiar sentiment throughout the ages, since Ovid first wrote those words.
And one of Life's most dangerous philosophies.
"From the result comes the proof".
The victors write the history.
Any publicity is better than no publicity.
Tell lies, twist the truth, generate lots of controversy, generate lots of publicity, object achieved.
I found this recently, can't remember where -
"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation."
Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf
Yes - people should start reading 'Mein Kampf' !
Uncle Adolph was THE Archetype of the Modern Man:
Vegetarian
Teetotal
Anti-Smoking
A believer in a New World Order (after a New Europe)
Concerned about the Environment
An Animal Rights advocate (Jews being BELOW dogs, of course)
A despiser of Democracy
An advocate of the State as the Font of all Good
A scientistic Darwinian and hater of Christianity
Someone who believed in the virtues of Blind Obedience.
Clearly, a man before his time.
If it hadn't been for that nasty Mr Churchill.............
I remember vividly BEGGING my Dad to quit smoking when I was 6 years old. Ironically, I am now 46 and have been doing in between 20 - 40 a day for the past 30 odd years. And my Dad's 78 and still kicking. Mum, however, a lifelong non-smoker hyas had breast cancer and a double mastectomy 5 years back.
My Dad neither expects (nor wants to) live forever and neither do I. As a result of my habit I have contracted COPD. I still smoke and I take medication (which I pay for) to treat my conditon. I haven't felt this good in years!. I also smoke on railway platforms, in the pub and anywhere else I can get away with it.
**** 'em.
Quote from an article by Neil Rafferty (ex- Sunday Times correspondant.
"Phrases like ‘Big Brother’ and ‘nanny state’ try to capture the trend, but it’s more than that. The government has become a genuine threat to our freedom. ‘Nanny’ suggests a cosy maternalism. What we face is aggressive. It is a bully-state and it thrives on fear."
"It is a bully-state and it thrives on fear."
BULLSEYE !
Let's leave Nanny alone - and concentrate on the Playground Thugs.
Just 'cos nobody wanted THEM in their gang.
And there's MORE of US, too.............
Bum balls and arseholes! Look! Freedom of speech! I'm off for a fag now on the station platform. Oh, and a beer.......I sit at the far end so as no-one gets offended.
By the way, forgot to mention; now HERE'S a tax payer!!!
A couple of days ago, I walked past a bus stop where a large crowd of mid-teens (14-16) in school uniform were waiting for the bus. Most of them, girls and boys, were smoking. Nice to know the anti-smoking campaign is working so well.......