“You're a fool if you think smoking is cool”
2016; Elsevier BV; Volume: 4; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s2213-2600(16)30088-1
ISSN2213-2619
Autores Tópico(s)Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology
ResumoAre we, or how are we, really influenced, seduced, or bought by advertising? The question is hard to quantify or qualify, because adverts tend to create positive memories and feelings that influence our behaviour over time through persuasion and engagement. This approach must work because advertising is a mega-bucks industry, greased by companies pumping millions into their marketing budgets. The growth of tobacco advertising from the late 19th century to early 20th century took off with the Duke company in North Carolina, USA, which popularised cigarettes through innovative marketing and production techniques. Advertising sells an image and an illusion; tobacco is no exception. From the infamous Marlboro Man to celebrity endorsements, and even brand recommendations by dentists and doctors, cigarettes were sexy and part of the social landscape. According to the American Cancer Society, in 1930, the lung cancer death rate for men in the USA was 4·9 per 100 000, but in 1990, the rate had increased to 75·6 per 100 000. In the latter part of the 20th century adverse health effects from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke were also documented, including lung cancer, asthma, respiratory infections, and decreased pulmonary function. Health risks were suspected as early as the 1940s, but how was the information disseminated? With no conclusive evidence, the booming tobacco industry anticipated the potential economic impact with mass marketing, filtered cigarettes, and low-tar formulations—a so-called healthier smoke. Then the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health's report in 1964, confirmed a causal association between smoking and lung cancer, and cited specific carcinogens in cigarette smoke, including cadmium, DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), and arsenic. A deluge of restrictions hit tobacco advertising; TV commercials were banned, health warnings were issued on cigarette packets, and smoking was prohibited in public spaces. But the smoking generation does not appear to be yielding quite yet. In November, 2015, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) reported that about one sixth of the UK adult population are smokers and around 100 000 smokers in the UK die from smoking-related causes every year. The population of smokers has decreased substantially in the past 30–40 years, but there is no avoiding the fact that despite knowing the risks, people will still smoke. Nicotine is physically addictive, but the cigarette itself—sliding it out of the packet, how it feels to hold it, light it, the pull, the drag—is an added psychological hurdle if quitting is the intention. The theatre company Bric a Brac have devised a theatrical exploration into the lure of the cigarette in ASH, recently performed in The Space, London, UK. Based on a true story, George Crozier is the protagonist, but so is the cigarette. All the actors have cigarettes, none of which are lit on stage of course, but the constant clicking and the sound of gas igniting a flame represent each cigarette smoked, and there are many. George's mother smokes, the cigarette is stuck to her lips as she cleans and fusses over her son. His first cigarette is taken from her packet, a memory that most likely resonates with many children of smokers. There are few props, only posters of cigarette brands stuck onto old suitcases that are moved around the stage, symbolising the age of mass-marketing tobacco campaigns. ASH is not an ambitious play in terms of clever scripting and profound subtext. The audience is seated on the same level as the stage and at the front the tables and chairs are set up as if in a bar. George's love affair with smoking is played out with music, movement, and object manipulation. For George, the cigarette carried him through his life, from a shy young boy to the final days dying from lung cancer, and as much as it imprisoned him, the inference was that it offered him more: social acceptance, escapism, companionship, even love. The action of taking the cigarette from the packet, holding it between the lips, and dragging the smoke into the lungs is repetitive, emphasising the routine, habit, and almost ritualistic relationship with smoking. George's mother died from lung cancer—he saw the consequences first hand. He quits, his wife quits, but they can't keep it up. Eventually they both cheat on each other, with a cigarette. Did ASH break into new ground? In a sense, smoking is yesterday's news. The health risks are unequivocal and smokers now find themselves socially marginalised, huddled in doorways, as intolerance for any form of public smoking becomes ever greater. So, what did ASH bring to the table? The acting was impressive, with little but themselves and a cigarette to rely on, and the music provided by one man and his acoustic guitar was soulful. What ASH did very well was to convey that feeling; the compulsion, obsessiveness, and a love affair with smoking. ASH Devised by Bric à Brac Directed by Anna Marshall The Space, London, UK February 23–27, 2016 ASH Devised by Bric à Brac Directed by Anna Marshall The Space, London, UK February 23–27, 2016
Referência(s)