Possum Philosophy: Commercial crosses the line

By ROBERT CAHILL/Columnist

“Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette, Puff, puff, puff until you smoke yourself to death.
Tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate, That you hate to make him wait, But you just gotta have another cigarette.”
—From the song “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (that Cigarette)” written by Merle Travis in 1947 for Tex Williams. It was Capitol Records first million-selling hit. Travis and Phil Harris also both had hits recording this song. In 1985, Williams, a heavy smoker died of lung cancer. He was still smoking a pack a day at his death. His daughter said Williams tried to quit and could not.

Lately, there has been a commercial frequently running on television. It pictures a fellow doing the old spinning dishes on long, thin wands balancing act. Unlike most acts, the fellow doing this one just isn’t very good. He has all sorts of trouble doing his act. If you haven’t seen it, you haven’t been watching TV lately.
No, it is not advertising some upcoming comedy special. It is actually disguised as a “public service announcement.” It is letting us John and Jane Q. Public know that Congress wants to charge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with regulating tobacco products. Its message is that the FDA is so inept at handling the drugs it is supposed to be handling; it should never be asked to oversee the tobacco industry. It hints that such a move would stretch its existing staff to the breaking point, putting us all at terrible risk from greater problems with our drugs and medicines. It urges you to contact your local congressman and tell him (or her) to vote against any such regulatory powers.
I am no fan of the FDA. I believe it does not always use best judgment in testing new drugs for medical use. It is too slow on many, yet moves too quickly on others. Just recently, a study found that many of the doctors and scientists on its regulatory panel have various ties to the pharmaceutical companies—an unhealthy (for us citizens) situation at best, a very dangerous (to the public) situation at its worst. But to suggest that including tobacco as a substance needing regulation by the medical experts of the FDA is a danger to us all strikes me as a bit ludicrous.
That’s when I noticed just who was paying for the ad. It is Reynolds American Inc. For anyone who hasn’t already guessed, Reynolds American is the parent of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. According to the Reynolds American Web site (http://www.reynoldsamerican.com), R.J. Reynolds is the second largest tobacco company in the U.S. It makes about one of every three cigarettes sold here. Do they want tobacco regulated by the FDA? Do they want stricter rules for its usage? Duhhhh.
My problem is not that the company is running this ad. This is still “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” They have a right to offer their opinion on a law, which would more than likely have adverse effects on their business. What I do not like is that they are trying to make it appear that they want only what’s best for all of us. (Sure. And the oil companies just want to raise their prices so hugely to get more of our money thus keeping us from squandering it on silly items such as food or medicine.) They should not be allowed to use “scare tactics,” making us think we are endangering our health by regulating them more closely, hinting the FDA will slack off on medicine to work on tobacco. Yes, the FDA needs closer oversight itself. Independent researchers should be independent, not depending on grants from the drug manufacturers. But they are fully capable of doing both tasks if made to actually do their jobs.
I believe I have some qualification to speak on the tobacco subject. I started smoking when I was about 15, the only one in our family other than my Dad who did so. Within a few years, I was smoking more than two packs of cigarettes a day. My Dad tried his best to get me to stop. My Mom begged me to quit. My siblings complained constantly about my smoking bothering them. Even the government printed warnings on cigarette packages. Did I listen? Well, yes, about 20 years or so later I did.
Did it have adverse effects on my health? Absolutely. Did I care? Not until some of the damage was done. Was I stupid? The people (my family and friends) who cared the most about me and would never intentionally cause me harm, begged me to quit, but I went merrily on for some 20 years. Of course that was stupid!
Was it hard to quit? Yes and no. I made a couple of half-hearted attempts over the years, never lasting more than a day or two at best. However, once I truly decided to quit, I quit. No, it was not fun. For a couple of days it was a real problem, but not nearly as long as I thought. In just a few days I quit craving them.
I used to be so aggravated when my family (and friends who had quit) would complain that they hated the smell, it made them sick, on and on and on they complained. I thought yeah, you didn’t seem to mind it much when you were a smoker. I made myself an oath that when (and if) I quit I would never complain. Guess what? I can smell a cigarette a mile away now and I hate the odor. Who’d a thunk it?
Yet, I still must take responsibility for my smoking. I was a reasonably intelligent kid (yes I do realize that is something of an oxymoron), yet I chose to smoke. Sure, tobacco advertising may have attempted to make it look cool, but I was never one to believe any ad on face value. Yes, tobacco companies are wrong for adding chemicals to their products that would tend to be more addictive. But, as for selling tobacco, well, I can only say that you can’t sell what people don’t want to buy.
I still believe tobacco companies have a right to speak their opinions. But, they don’t have a right to try and disguise it as a public service or that their only interest is in protecting our health. They should either pull this ad or make a highly visible disclaimer that it is being paid for by people with a highly vested interest in preventing as much as possible, the regulation of the product they produce.
And if you smoke, quit. My brothers and sister swear that if I could quit anyone could. And for once they aren’t just aggravating me.

A freelance journalist, Robert “Rocky” Cahill writes regularly for the News & Messenger.