MyGreenHealth

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The Big Illusion

Awash with billions of revenues, the tobacco industry wants us to accept and believe that cigarettes are rather trendy, gratifying, normal, fashionable and just fine. Above all, tobacco companies are conveying the idea that smoking is one of the many things of nobody else’s concern.

How can we explain the fact that smokers who are at the receiving end of the many smoking regulations and restrictions are blaming the laws governing such rather than their desire to smoke? Maybe smokers have to wake up and fully realize that as far as smoking goes, there is no such thing as choice. Choice here is a great illusion the tobacco industry is putting as a smokescreen protecting their business.

We are now reaping all the fruits of the mind conditioning started many decades ago. More than 300 years ago, the only thing to be said in opposition to smoking was its smell which many people find offensive. However, smoking flourished because it was considered as one of the exclusive things men do. And many reasoned that since life was also smelly, that fight against smoking was watered down.

By the time cigarettes were taking over the place of pipes and cigars that was when the tobacco industry gained greater acceptance. Without batting an eyelash, the truth is that cigarette is an extremely effective drug delivery system making more and more people hooked to the habit. Well, most tobacco manufacturers admitted this fact though not in the public arena.

It all started with mostly men and generally practiced in association with other men – in places like murky bars and pubs, in the smoking rooms of elite clubs, at smoking concerts, in events after the ladies were gone and all other places like these.

The risks to health were not yet a concern for most smokers. In the meantime, the smoking alliances were steadily growing – it all started with the idea of leisure and relaxation which later evolved into reprieve of stress. And so it happened that by the middle of the 20th century, smoking was simply viewed as having many positive benefits.

Then World War 1 and 2 came and cigarettes were popularly distributed to the troops for free. After the war, millions got addicted to cigarettes. The demand spiraled and business responded by producing more and more varieties of cigarettes. To perpetuate the illusions of smoking, marketers devised ways and means to hold on to their newly found markets. And so films and stories, TV advertising all portrayed cigarettes in very positive lights. Smoking became the official symbol of masculinity, adulthood, sensuality, superiority, defiance — you name it they got it covered.

Famous and powerful people including silver screen celebrities were part of the classy smoking club. Smoking became the hit thing to do. Smoking evolved as one of the things considered to be normal.

Everything worked for the tobacco companies as they all banked on this grand illusion and with the use of their coffers they are very much willing to do everything possible to maintain and even polished the illusion. All the big budgeted advertising and promotion are all done to maintain the notion that smoking is part and parcel of growing up.

The most important message is that smoking is typically normal. We are already seeing it as part of the things that adults do so that in our mind it is just very much acceptable. Tobacco companies want to preserve that idea by hiring famous people to endorse their brands. And with millions of dollars at its disposal, it would not be far-fetched to think that they could do whatever they wanted to do. Cigarette ads were present in blockbuster movies and even in sports.

The money from the tobacco industry rolled back and forth with the hope of maintaining the gains they already successfully covered and possibly to expand their current markets. They all want us to think that smoking is a need just like how we view food and drink.

Smoking is a big lie — one of the largest ever pulled off against us the consumers.

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Powerful Sticks

Do you know what’s at the center of your addictive smoking habit? The heart of this powerful problem is no other than nicotine — a chemical which is certified to be both addictive and toxic.

Nicotine is a two-edged sword. If it happens to be just purely addictive, people would be spending all their lives merrily puffing their boring days away expecting that everything is just fine with no side-effect whatsoever. If smoking were just plainly poisonous, in most probability you’ll just leave it untouched.

The problem with smoking is that it is both addictive and poisonous to the body. The whole tobacco industry is very much aware of what they are marketing for millions of smokers. It is all about doing business in a multi-billion dollar industry.

In the name of greed and more profits, the tobacco industry has been using deceit and manipulation to cover their tracks and kept people from realizing the real truths behind each stick of cigarette consumed.

With millions of money on its hand, the industry is flexing its muscles as it expands into new market while keeping its captured market. That new market happens to be the new generation of young people who are more susceptible with slick advertising and subtle messages regularly beamed by highly paid marketers.

So how come that everywhere in this planet we find smart and educated adults who are admittedly powerless against the power of a seemingly harmless paper tube of dried leaves we called cigarette?

That’s the big question that needs to be honestly answered! So why do people smoke in the first place? Here are some reasons for that:

RECREATION

FOCUS

STRESS MANAGEMENT

FLAVOR

SOCIABILITY

And here are some reasons why we should start thinking of finally kicking the nasty habit of smoking:

WELL-BEING

MONEY

POWER

PRESSURE

DISTASTE

In essence, this summarizes the smoker’s orientation or thinking. While there are various grounds for quitting the habit, there are equally powerful reasons to continue puffing.

So which side will eventually be victorious? The answer all lies in your hands! It is all up to you! Nobody could ever convince you to stop doing something you feel you are powerless to deal with. Empower yourself and you will eventually win over your addiction.

Quit it now!

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