Sunday, April 17, 2011

Olive green, red and blue

I think if the government wants to discourage young people from eating take-away food to avoid obesity and diabetes in later life, then perhaps they should consider requesting fast food companies and those who market soft drinks and chocolate bars enclose their products in olive green wrappers -  the color of the 'new' cigarette packets, designed to discourage people from smoking.  Likewise, if olive green is supposed to be so unappealing (I think the Greens may disagree with them), maybe the government should insist that labels on beer and wine bottles also be this color, since so many injuries and deaths are caused by young people (but not only the young) who get drunk and then drive their cars. Hey, why not insist that all cars be painted olive green to put people off driving and inevitable accident and injury. If the government really believes that cigarette smoking is so bad for us why don't they just ban cigarettes and tobacco products all together? Probably because they collect over $8 billion dollars a year in revenue and many of our services are provided for by the fact that people are addicted to smoking. This new labeling is just pure hypocrisy it's just a way that the government can prove that it's doing something to address the health issues associated with smoking, but if you think about it, they're not really doing that much!  Fact is that people imbibe all kinds of things and substances that are not good for their body, and also absorb ideas that might not be condoned as well. People have been smoking since 5000 BC and over one billion people throughout the world currently use tobacco for recreational use, either as something they  inhale into their lungs or via snuff, which is insufflated through their nostrils. It's considered by many to be one of life's little pleasures. To others, smokers are simply people with certain personality traits, although the personality differences between smokers and non-smokers is usually small. And whilst I'm pontificating I would just like to say what kind of a weird world do we live in, in which a anti-smoking advertisement can show bright red blood on a handkerchief coughed up by a male smoker, but disguises menstruation blood on sanitary pads and tampon advertisements as blue dye? I do get it. We (smokers) are supposed to be frightened by the sight of blood because it's associated with  pain, trauma and death, but portraying menstrual blood as blue liquid is just wrong - it dilutes the pain that many women experience during menstruation under a purity rubric that may be associated with the white pad, but is certainly not experienced by the woman. OK, enough now, the sun is shining through the beautiful olive green leaves near my porch and it's time for me to get on with the day.

3 comments:

  1. I love this. I'm glad snuff got a mention. I feel so marginalized as few Australian use it. Also, I recently bought a pack of Golden Virginia tobacco ( apparently the world's best selling and most beloved brand) and it has a beautiful olive green packaging! Off for a fag...
    Shaun

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  2. Received an email from Moira today who said:

    "I love this blog! Have always balked at the blue & white ad metaphors with menstruation products".

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  3. Shaun - if more people insufflated snuff there might not be so many complaints - but it IS a quaint and old-fashioned recreational drug.

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