You may be in advertising, but that doesn’t mean you know every aspect of it. What you say is true regarding trends and behavior, BUT the best ad agencies around DO (and always have) become the highest paid due to their nefarious genius. I’m in advertising as well.

If you think otherwise, all you have to do is look into subliminal advertising. The naked ladies showing up on an ice cube in a glass of whiskey weren’t an accident and neither were the sand dunes and tumbleweeds which just happen to resemble a nude woman’s torso and bush.

That you would doubt such simple concepts as Mariame has expressed above is rather funny to me. What distinguishes any of her marketing angles from “trends and behavior”? Especially the sort of trends and behavior Mariame has mentioned which are naturally ingrained in our society and aren’t going away like last year’s leg-warmers. The Time Out, The Gesture and The Read sweep across all cultures and subcultures and will be around until the end of the world or until human beings evolve into antisocial shut-ins.

Thanks for the “kudos”? Yeh, that’s what you meant…

I wonder if the commenter realizes that (she?) is exactly the kind of person I avoid at parties on the off-chance that we would actually end up standing near each other at the same party?

Like many who don’t work in advertising, you attribute all kinds of nefarious genius to marketers when nothing of the sort is the case. I work in advertising. Most ads attempts to capitalize on trends and behavior that people already exhibit — the people making the ads simply aren’t smart enough to create desire.

I resent your implicit infantalization of smokers. We’re not being duped. It’s a little more complicated than that — which you fully failed to get. Move on.

Nicotine is easy to kick. The physical addiction is broken after 1 week of not smoking. It is the psychological addiction and brainwashing which really makes quitting difficult:

1.) You’ve heard endlessly how “hard” quitting is. This makes it easier to forgive yourself for failing.

2.) People attracted to smoking generally find it attractive. This is the brainwashing of society. Both the rebels and the puritans play an essential role here, not to mention the photographers and cinematographers, the original actors who were paid by Phillip Morris to smoke on-camera, etc.

3.) The physical act and the habitual routine play a role in addiction as well.

However, once you can kick the brainwashing, your troubles are over. The nicotine addiction is gone after 1 week. The brainwashing begins to disappear in an instant once the truth is really seen for what it is. The physical act and habitual routine are much easier to deal with when one can simply view the process as a battle ONE IS WINNING rather than one is LOSING.

Here’s how to see it as a WINNING battle:

1.) It’s easy. When you really know how to quit, it’s easy. I quit instantly. So have thousands and thousands of other people either by going to an Easyway clinic or reading one of Allan Carr’s books.

2.) You’re being MORE of a rebel than ever. You are fighting society’s brainwashing and WINNING. The more you decondition yourself, the freer you become, moment by moment.

3.) You will be healthier. You will not stink. And, believe me, you stink more than you realize!

4.) Nobody is profiting off your death. You are saving money.

5.) Moment-by-moment, you are becoming LESS STRESSED OUT.
People don’t realize: Cigarettes STRESS YOU OUT. As soon as you’ve finished your cigarette, the nicotine is processed and your body physically craves nicotine again within 2 minutes. The fact that you don’t smoke a cigarette every 2 minutes PROVES that nicotine addiction plays a very small role in cigarette addiction.

Armed with these thoughts, go quit. I guarantee once you quit, smokers will not seem “cool” at all. It is quite hypocritical and seemingly traitorous, but most ex-smokers feel nothing but disgust or sympathy for smokers once they’re on the other side of the fence.

The reason? Being a smoker means HABITUALLY LYING TO YOURSELF!

Yes, the #1 obstacle for smokers is their SELF-PERPETUATED BRAINWASHING!

Learning to smoke is mind-over-matter. Physically, it is disgusting. But, you convinced yourself to “enjoy” it. Every time you smoke, you are re-convincing yourself in so many subtle ways. You are also convincing yourself while you smoke that “it’s not that bad” and “I don’t smoke that much” and “I don’t stink that much” and “I look cool when I smoke” and “smokers are cool, nonsmokers are dorks and puritans” etc.

In short, your attitude is the main obstacle. So, brutal introspection and honesty will free you from your addiction. Nothing else. Gums, patches, cold turkey? Nothing has the success rate of removing the brainwashing. Once this is done, it’s EASY. That is why it’s called “the easy way.”

When I first quit, people would say, “man, you’ve got some willpower!”

I would respond, “Willpower has nothing to do with it. It would take a lot more willpower to force myself to suck that crap into my lungs again!”

Hope you quit soon.

And become an annoying ex-smoker like me.