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Boy Loses Mom in Quit Smoking Commercial

Speak Up: What's Your Opinion of This Quit Smoking Commercial?

April 9, 2009

I'm one of those people who is easily moved to tears, and being both a health fanatic and a mom, this commercial about quitting cigarettes really tugged at my heart strings. I happen to think it's a really effective commercial, but what's your opinion? Do you think it would inspire someone to quit smoking?

31 Comments

2 years

what is is the big deal about the mom walking away from her son in the commercial? The child didn't die or got traumatized for life, you people are so weak. A child is going to cry if he misplaced his favorite toys and as a smoker this touched me too cause I have a son and I haven't smoked since two days and I'm going to succeed this time.

2 years

This commercial was the one that my mom saw on tv. She saw this and immediately was touched. She has smoked for more than 10 years now and she said once she saw this commercial, everything changed. She has been a non-smoker for 3 weeks so far with no urges-true story.

3 years

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3 years

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4 years

This commercial is a joke, to say the least. It will NOT work either. QUIT VERY RARELY help people to stop smoking. Actually they often make it harder. These adds cause: FEAR=STRESS= MORE SMOKING! Allen Carr has said it all on the topic of smoking. Anyone want to stop smoking check him out and you will. Period.

4 years

its because of commercials like this one, and the other very graphic ones, that i can say i havent smoked in 21 days. this commercial breaks my heart, and its supposed to.

4 years

I have to say after seeing this twice I went on CHANTIX and after a week I have to say thank god i doing good

tropicalsiren 4 years

I cannot get my around how a mother/father/husband/etc can smoke knowing that they are putting those they love at risk of dying from exposure to second hand smoke. I know smoking is an addiction and that it not easy to quit( i still dont understand why people even try them in first place) but if knowing your are killing you family it is not reason enough to quit, then smokers should live by themselves.

sparklestar 4 years

People still smoke? What the hell.

heyjen19 4 years

I really hate all of the anti-smoking campaign commericals. I'm not a smoker, but if I were, I don't think a commerical would really affect my choice to quit smoking. I would love to see a commercial that shows a person quitting and how much better their life is because of it, I feel like would me much more effective than these.

LittleMzFit 4 years

I heard one on the radio once about a man who lost his wife to cancer because of second hand smoke. He talked very affectionately of her & of how she always wanted him to quit. The commercial was shocking & sad. I don't know what it takes to help someone quit. I thought doogirl's comment was funny! I wished my grandmother were around. Lost her to emphasema b/c she smoked.

Deidre 4 years

Smacks, you read/heard all the same details about the commericial that I did! After hearing the full story, I really don't understand the controversy behind this. Now, show me the commercials of Sarah MacLachlan supporting the ASPCA with all the photos of the injured abandoned dogs (that actually ARE injured an abandoned), and I go to pieces.

amandaaa 4 years

i started crying

Martini Rossi 4 years

I hate this spot. First time I watched it I wanted to cry, poor baby. I get the point of quitting smoking for your kids but honestly if your a smoker you should know by now that you actions are selfish and pretty much not smart.

Spectra 4 years

It's probably not going to make anyone quit smoking...no ad can make anyone give up doing anything unless they actually want to in the first place. Besides, I don't think it's a very realistic scenario. The reality about smoking is not that you'll drop dead when you're 30 and leave your 5 year old an orphan; it's that you end up with COPD when you're in your 50's, emphysema when you're 60, possibly lung or throat cancer, etc. that will make you die earlier than if you didn't smoke. One of my coworkers (who is a smoker) has a mom who is a smoker and has throat cancer. She recently had a tracheostomy and still smokes through her stoma...I can't believe my coworker still smokes after seeing her mom go through that. Now THAT would make me quit if I were a smoker.

cdent4 4 years

I think people are overreacting. I saw the interview on TV with the babies mother, and the child was fine. The media really knows how to hype issues.

mamasitamalita 4 years

totally agree, Smacks. I saw one this morning that was like "imagine your lungs are sponges, smoker's lung/sponges will give you this much tar if you squeeze them out" and showed tar oozing out of a sponge, SO gross.

greatscott200 4 years

I don't think it's right for the child's real mother to walk away and upset the child for a commerical. The most effective stop smoking ad would have to be the one were the old guy takes a hit of his smoke from the hole in his throat where his tracheostomy tube goes. Upsetting but effective.

Smacks83 4 years

Besides the commercials that bothered me (and I'm not a smoker) are the ones with pictures of tumors, and black lungs and the gooey junk being pushed out of an artery. Yikes!

Smacks83 4 years

I really doubt a child that young will have some lasting mental issues. I lost my mom like a few times because I would wander away and hide. Two major ones my mom remembers was I got lost at Macys in Herald's Square NYC (founding crying inside a circular rack)and at an airport (found crying sitting on a turned off luggage-thingy). I honestly don't rememeber any of it. Mamasita, i read the same thing: The area was only full of actors, it took all of 30 seconds to film, child welfare people were on hand, the mom walked away (some people make it sound like they hit the kid or something to make him cry) and they it it all in one take. Right after the mom popped out and had a cuddle up with the little one and he was laughing and happy like 2 seconds later.

demuzica 4 years

I read about what mamasitamali mentioned above and I'm totally against this commercial because of the fact that they really lead the child to believe he lost his mother. There are other tactics to use, and as the other people who commented said, the commercials are rarely effective.

starangel82 4 years

Honestly as an ex smoker, a lot of anti-smoking commercials just made me laugh. Or light up. I just thought they were ridiculous. Most of them seemed like they were written by someone who had never touched a cigarette in their life and didn't know how hard it was to quit. It took me 3 tries to put them down. I'm determined I'm done this time... the cost of cigarettes really helps now too, but still. Quitting isn't easy. And smokers aren't bad people. Just people with an addiction. mamasitmali - I really find that disturbing. Very disturbing. I hope that poor child won't remember that.

mamasitamalita 4 years

this commercial was filmed in Australia in one take, and is stirring up a lot of controversy not because of smoking, but because the mother actually walked away from the kid. they apparently had child protective services staff on hand to make sure the crew/mother weren't neglecting the kid, but she actually walked away so that was a real reaction.

briannaNicole 4 years

I'm always shocked at the amount of backlash anti smoking commercials receive. The only people who seem to find them meaningful/helpful are already non smokers. Smokers go on the immediate defense though and it's almost like they get the reverse message because they then feel the need to create further justification for the habit. I have to say though, if you're a parent, and you smoke, that's not great parenting.

doogirl 4 years

I've never smoked, so I don't know how it would effect a smoker. However, I do know that children can help a person quit smoking. When my three year old daughter called my Mother in Law a Jackass because she was smoking, my MIL put that cigarette down and hasn't smoked since! She had smoked for 45 years, and all it took was her granddaughter calling her a name!

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31 Comments