25 mai 2009
Rothmans Cigarettes
On one of the posters on display at Gatwick was the impressive image of a Rothman's logo embellishing the underbelly of a 
wide bodied jet. Pretty impressive stuff - but not as impressive as the embedded artwork in the bottom left hand corner. Regrettably it is obscured in the photograph on the right as the author's finger appeared in front of the lens. Fortunately, the same ad also appeared in flight magazines around the world. One of these ads is depicted in the illustration shown on the left. The inset image on the right is the figure of interest (actual size as in the magazine ad).
Geographers will note the distortion produced to the north east of England and the large 'chunk' bitten out of north Wales. This apparent reflection of the southern half of Britain on the body of the aircraft can also be perceived as Col. Saunders lookalike, with a faint but nevertheless notable, cigarette/phallic shape entering his mouth. Or it could be smoke being blown out. Take your pick. The 'chunk' missing from North Wales produces 'Colonel Saunders' eye. Whether what the Colonel is ingesting is intended to be perceived as an extremely large cigarette, a straw, a cigar or whatever, I will leave to the imagination of the viewer. Their judgement might, however, be biased by the other, sexually oriented, cigarette ads discussed on various other pages of the Subliminal World site
11 août 2008
Japan remains a smoker's paradise
Humourist David Sedaris is no longer a smoker, and, oddly, he has Japan to thank for it.
The American author, most recently of When You Are Engulfed in Flames, kicked his 30-year cigarette habit in Tokyo. Quitting smoking is probably a feat for anyone, yet one needs extra willpower to do it in a true puffer's paradise.
Travelling to this land of dirt-cheap cigarettes and omnipresent ashtrays to beat your addiction is like going to Madrid to give up pork, Prague to escape beer cravings or Beijing to get away from crowds. That didn't keep Sedaris from spending three months in Japan last year, and succeeding.
"I read in a book that the best way to quit smoking was to move, and in Tokyo it's against the law to smoke on the street," Sedaris joked recently to Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. "It's not second-hand-smoke-related, it's you put a hole in my Comme des Garcons jacket-related."
For most of the nation's 127 million people, Japan's views on smoking are anything but a laughing matter. Japan Tobacco Inc., the world's third-largest publicly traded cigarette maker, is 50 per cent government-owned. When you consider the tax revenue from its $31.4 billion in domestic tobacco sales, it's no wonder Japan Tobacco has friends in high places.
Some gutsy lawmakers want to more than triple cigarette prices to about $10 a pack. That would put Asia's biggest economy in closer alignment with the anti-smoking movements in other industrialized nations. It also might increase government revenue amid modest economic growth. Japan Tobacco, which markets about 30 cigarette brands in Japan, isn't happy.
"It would be disastrous harm for consumers first and the industry as well," president Hiroshi Kimura said last month.
This is really a story about Japan -- how the government's tentacles travel around the business world, and vice versa. The finance ministry is Japan Tobacco's largest shareholder, leaving little doubt anti-smoking efforts will lack teeth. The arrangement has Japan implicitly encouraging smoking.
The tobacco debate is a reminder that as much as we talk about the "New Japan" of high technology, anime and hybrid cars, much of the old remains. Politicians are protecting vested interests without considering the bigger picture.
Kimura complains that most smokers would quit if the price of cigarettes were tripled. Some economists say so many people would stop smoking that tax revenue may actually decline.
Yet the end -- a more productive workforce that takes fewer smoking breaks and has lower health-care burdens -- would justify the means. This isn't just a fiscal issue. This isn't about shares in Japan Tobacco falling. It's a public-health issue.
Ideas such as banning tobacco advertising, sponsoring tobacco-control programs and public-service announcements haven't caught on in Japan. All this says much about the government's economic policies.
Japan has the world's largest public debt, and the demographics make pledges to reduce it unrealistic. With the population both aging and shrinking, Japan must find new revenue, while funding the skyrocketing health-care costs.
04 juillet 2008
Are Electronic Cigarettes Better For Your Health?
Ontario's anti-smoking law is one of the toughest in the country. So is Toronto's own bylaw.
Both ban smoking in offices and enclosed
spaces. And both force puffers to head outside for a butt - even in the dead of
a -30C
Smokers have been forced to grin and bear it all these years, while crying they've been discriminated against. And many have been looking for loopholes to get around the all encompassing bans. And now some think they've found it, thanks to an electronic cigarette.
They're made by a company called Crown Seven. The user puts a nicotine capsule inside, then puffs on one end. The other end lights up just like a cigarette even though this product does not burn.
The gizmo delivers a hit of nicotine but lets out a puff of odourless water vapour instead of a plume of smoke. It only contains nicotine and not the hundreds of other chemicals that can be in a standard smoke.
It comes with a rechargeable battery that heats up the liquid nicotine and turns it into a gas. And since it's not technically a cigarette and doesn't threaten anyone else's airway, it may not fall under the strict laws regarding indoor puffing. But how does it taste?
"It's got a bit of a bite, sort of tobacco-like bite but it doesn't really taste like tobacco," reports volunteer Leo Jablonski.
They're for sale all over the Internet at a range of strengths and prices, and advocates insist they have lots of benefits. There's no chance of fire since you don't light them, they don't stain your teeth, there's no second-hand smoke and they may make quitting easier.
But vendors also claim they don't harm your health because the tar and smoke that comes with normal coffin nails isn't present.
"I think people need to be cautious," warns Dr Roberta Ferrence, director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. "It's an unknown."
"The concern is that the product will probably be promoted as something that's safer than smoking," she adds.
Dr Ferrence doesn't think they're safe at all.
In an interview with CityNews Medical Specialist Dr Karl Kabasele, she pointed out the many disadvantages of this "smokeless" cigarette:
We don't know for certain that they are less harmful than regular cigarettes. They're not regulated, and because they're available in different strengths, it's difficult to gauge the danger.
It keeps smoking visible, and therefore increases its social acceptance, at a time when the Ontario government is working to make smoking "uncool."
Kids will have easier access to the gadget, and it may act as a gateway to the real thing.
It's not a tool to help you quit smoking; it's just a way to get around the smoking ban laws. There's no evidence that it can help with smoking cessation.
Finally, inhaling nicotine is the most addictive of all delivery modes.
However, the company never claimed it could be used to help you quit smoking.
"It's intended just for smoking alternative...for smokers to get their nicotine in nonsmoking environments," agrees Ron MacDonald, President and CEO of Crown Seven.