[rant] Just watched an advert for the NHS’s latest “Stop Smoking” campaign.  All very noble of course, but I it really wound me up.  The gist of the 30-second ad (do we call them “infomercials” now?) was basically to answer the question, “What are the real reasons for you to give up smoking”?  The answer to which was a sequence of 5 or 6 talking heads pieces from members of the public (or actors) talking to camera saying “I want to walk my daughter down the aisle”, “I want to see our grandchildren grow up”, “I want to see my son graduate”.  i.e. the only reasons worth living for are all about your children and anyone without kids can carry on and smoke themselves to death for all we care. If it was just a single example, it wouldn’t have been a problem but the fact that all half a dozen of the answers directly related to the children was missing the trick.  I’m sure parents up and down the country could all think of reasons to look after their health that have bugger all to do with their offfspring. I guess focussing on a group of people whose lives are clogged up with the exersions of pregnancy, nappies, school selection, ADHD, sulky teenagers, and a lifetime of debt from an unneccesary Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Studies are the ones who are more likely to turn to drugs. Is there still a social stigma for couples who make the choice not to have children? Despite the fact that it is a category in to which I fall, I’ve never noticed this before or may be  just no-one’s talked to me about it and it’s the parents talking among themsleves. [/rant]

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Tags: advert, NHS, smoking