Thursday 21 November 2013

Sláinte To A Soviet Ireland And The Patently False

Sometimes, little comment from me is required. Take this BMJ blog from Irish GP Pat Harrold, for example.
We are now set to become one of the first countries to ban tobacco branding. This means that the box of twenty will have a plain cover and you can only tell the different types by the lettering. The boxes will look generic, rather like the government products in the old Soviet Union.
Because that's precisely the kind of regime that every forward-thinking health lobbyist should be striving to emulate, of course.
I have made the transformation from an enthusiastic smoker to an even more enthusiastic non smoker and I have to say I welcome this strategy.
We've all met one, haven't we?
Maybe the idea could be extended to fast food and alcohol.
What? You mean it's not a myth? Quick, someone tell Deborah "patently false" Arnott!

Who needs a Hands Off Our Packs campaign in Ireland when this guy is making the arguments without one, eh?

UPDATE: Grandad has filleted Harrold in his inimitable laid-back Irish style, do go have a read.


9 comments:

Dick_Puddlecote said...

"Anyone so easily led as to switch brands because that's what their friends smoke is ..." exactly the person tobacco companies target with their pack design - an existing adult smoker who they want to switch brands from a competitor to their own product. Precisely what tobacco companies have said pack design is about all along.



Are we sure this guy isn't a cleverly placed tobacco stooge? ;)

Rickster said...

Have you noticed that you only need to censor and delete my views on your blog.

Where are all the anti smoking views? perhaps 40 million anti smoking in the UK .

The uncomfortable truth is that your blog and other obsessive smoking bloggers are completely ignored by those who you target.

Not one comment ever on any blog that i can remember except mine, it's called pissing in the wind.

As for me being an ASH troll...nope not at all, raising my status to give bloggers more credibilty and importance is seen for what it is -bollocks

Surely someone gives a fuck what you write about dick except other nodding pen pals and me.

Rickie.

woodsy42 said...

Why not go all the way and brand them all the same 'Victory brand' sounds about right.

TheInvisibleHand said...

I've often said the Plain Packaging strategy comes directly from the "global Marxist" playbook. What better way to destroy Capitalism than by denying branding and marketing..

Tomsmith said...

where does this army of fuckwits come from? I honestly don't meet them in real life

Ivan_Denisovich said...

Can you think of any major mouthpiece in public health who is not a Marxist?

Fuming Boru said...

It is hardly surprising the International Brigade of Health Nuts and Pharma Puppets pick the Irish Republic for trying out a big con on
the General Public.Lets be honest, the Irish have had a thousand year practice at bowing and cap doffing to smart overlords.
They thought they had shrugged of their English Masters in 1922
now they breed their own home spun Dictators and health Freaks
Bless em
Fuming Boru

Jeff Wood said...

I seem to recall that everyone in the Soviet Union and its empire smoked. Heavily.

Miles Dolphin said...

Maybe someone ought to tell them it hasn't worked in AUS -- http://londoneconomics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/London-Economics-Press-Release-Australian-Prevalence-25-11-2013.pdf