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Last week, Mangesh posted about whether brain damage could help you quit smoking. If you’ve been beating yourself senseless but are still lighting up, here’s another tactic: looking at horrific pictures of blackened lungs and horribly disfigured feet.
NewScientist reports on a study that determined this method was the most effective at discouraging smoking. Australia has used this approach on cigarette packs themselves. Not surprisingly, traditional warning labels were deemed least effective.
I was going to put up a few examples after the jump, but these pictures go beyond curbing your appetite for nicotine. If you need them, the pictures are here.
If you have a story about another way to quit smoking, spread your wisdom in the comments.
Comments (14)
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Eh…I still like smoking. Besides, I work for a non-profit org. Dying young is my retirement plan.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 2-6-2007 at 9:24 am
I like smoking too. But nobody else does. I’ve been having pretty good luck with Chantix and Dum-Dum Pops.
posted by Gina on 2-6-2007 at 9:29 am
Chantix worked like a charm.
posted by paul on 2-6-2007 at 9:34 am
These commercials also were seen on prime time TV.
The shock campaign used in Australia is also used on drink driving. There’s nothing like a TV commercial where a man is driving his kids home in his VW when all of a sudden he drifts into incoming traffic and slams into a semi to make you think twice about having that extra beer or two.
posted by Michael on 2-6-2007 at 9:50 am
I know we will all die sometime. But my mother dies from lung cancer not knowing who her children were or where she was. Her belly was swollen and distended from the tumors in her liver. She was a lifetime smoker and lived in denial that she would never develop cancer. We found out she had cancer on Feb. 14, 1999 and she died Feb. 19, 1999. Please quit smoking!
posted by Stephanie on 2-6-2007 at 9:58 am
Canada has similar ads on their packaging. Former smoker for 1 month 13 days. Cold turkey.
posted by wade on 2-6-2007 at 10:01 am
Oh, Lord, I wished I’d taken to heart your wisdom in not posting the photos directly. I think I need to go be sick. I looked for two seconds, maybe, and that surpassed my limit for horror. Glad I’ve entered the ranks of reformed smoker.
posted by Patty on 2-6-2007 at 11:30 am
I was able to quit when I did it with my boyfriend. We quit at the same time and encouraged each other not to smoke. We also started a daily exercise regiment which replaced the smoking to an extent. We’ve both been cigarette-free for 3 years now.
posted by LARS on 2-6-2007 at 12:02 pm
when I was in jr high, my teacher showed us 2 actual sets of pig lungs, one of which had been exposed to smoke that simulated a lifetime pack-a-day smoker. the lungs could be hooked up to a pump that showed how easily the healthy lungs could be inflated, and how the smoking lungs looked like they were about to pop. it was incredible. we were even able to touch them (with gloves on, they had been preserved in formaldehyde) the healthy lungs were soft and spongy, the unhealthy lungs felt like they were full of tar (which they were), and there was a pre-cancerous lump that felt like a rock. I wish more kids could see that. it’s nasty but nearly impossible to forget.
posted by moonablaze on 2-6-2007 at 2:14 pm
After three cancer surgeries, my stepdad only has half of a tongue. And my dad had quintuple bypass surgery after having been a heavy smoker for many years.
I’d also like to see TV ads with people turned off by the utter stinkiness of smokers, and on the increasingly prohibitive cost of a pack of smokes.
posted by Leisa on 2-6-2007 at 4:23 pm
haha, kill yourself and save the world )) have read or heard of a book “an easy way to quit smoking”?, author like Alen Karra, but it can affect not everybody (i mean myself) :)) just i started reading it, I wanted to smoke heavily )) am I crazY?
posted by Funny Alex on 2-6-2007 at 5:43 pm
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the Body World exhibit. The one in Boston (At the Boston Museum of Science) shows 3 sets of lungs: helthy, smokers, and coal miners. Not only will I never smoke, but I will never work in a coal mine either! They looked like lung-shaped coal (no lie). Eek.
posted by BioBri on 2-6-2007 at 7:36 pm
After smoking for more years than I like to admit to I have been smoke free for 1 month. I hope I can make it smoke-free for the rest of my life. I hope the rest of my life is longer than it was before I quit! What did it for me was the T.V. commercial where the man (now deceased) talks about taking a breath feeling like he was trying to take in air with 3 pillows over his face. I can actually run without chest pain and wheezing and that is after only 1 month!
posted by Jane on 2-7-2007 at 9:24 am
My mom has emphysema and is still in denial that is was caused by cigarettes; she is 52 and has been smoking about a pack a day (sometimes more) since she was 16.
My dad (51) has had all of his teeth removed due to tooth decay caused by smoking a pack a day also. He still smokes.
I went to the Body World exhibit in Philadelphia, it is amazing and should motivate people to quit or not smoke.
I have never picked up a cigarette.
posted by Sonya on 2-8-2007 at 3:20 pm