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Tobacco use is going down, but it's not happening on its own. It's going down because of many measures that have been implemented: - restriction of billboard

Tobacco use is going down, but it's not happening on its own. It's going down because of many measures that have been implemented: - restriction of billboard advertising - restriction of tobacco ads in film and tv - warnings on packaging - photos on packaging - banning smoking in public buildings - banning smoking in restaurants - banning smoking in public transportation - banning smoking near entrances - age restrictions on buying cigarettes - banning of automatic vending machines etc. Each of those have a small effect, but in total the effect is large. It's hard to measure the effectiveness of individual measures, but in aggregate it's clear that these measures significantly reduce smoking. Especially if you compare countries where these measures have not been implemented yet with countries where they were implemented sooner.

yreg 3y ago
It could be happening on it's own as well though. We have all of these restrictions here in Europe and yet double the people smoke than in US.
- newaccount74 3y ago
  I think it just takes time. I live in Austria, and some of these measures were only introduced 5 years ago, some are still not implemented. People don't give up smoking overnight, the 20 year lead the US has over these measures is not something we can expect to catch up... Smoking is going down, slowly, and I think it's because of all these measures.
jacknews 3y ago
In my anecdotal experience, it's simply no longer cool to smoke, at all, in fact very much the opposite. I smoked for about 10 years between the mid 80s and 90s. When I started, most of the 'cool', 'sophisticated' etc people seemed to smoke. When I stopped, it was mostly a health choice, but partly because it seemed no longer 'cool', everyone I knew had given up or was trying to. I can't even fathom why anyone would start smoking now, it seems like an affliction of the poor and/or the old rather than anything sophisticated. All of this is mostly a change in fashion, people having a deeper awareness of the health risks, becoming aware of tobacco industry manipulation, etc. No doubt government messaging aided and supported that change, but it is not the only or even the main cause imho.
- newaccount74 3y ago
  > a change in fashion, people having a deeper awareness Where do you think this change is coming from? When I was a kid, there was a huge billboard right next to my school with a man wearing aviator glasses, an airplane in the background, smoking Memphis cigarettes. That was the coolest guy I've ever seen. Compare that to 20 years later, there's a photo of a depressed guy on the package and a message "smoking causes infertility". When I first started at uni, students still smoked in the auditorium. That was cool. By the time I finished, people who smoked had to go outside and stand in smoking zones like animals. The opposite of cool. There's a reason why the public perception changed. I don't think the public perception would have changed as drastically without government intervention.
  - refurb 3y ago
    At least in the US, smoking rates were almost cut in half before any of that stuff even happened (48% to 30%). https://news.gallup.com/poll/237908/smoking-rate-hits-new-low.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/237908/smoking-rate-hits-new-lo... Hell, when I was in high school, you could still smoke at 16. I'd argue the health risks have become way more know, which drove most of the reduction.
  - jacknews 3y ago
    I think those things mainly followed, getting a mandate from, the changing fashions; the health-conscious, status and performance oriented 80s, for example, rather than creating it, but I'm sure there's influence both ways.

yreg 3y ago

It could be happening on it's own as well though. We have all of these restrictions here in Europe and yet double the people smoke than in US.

newaccount74 3y ago
I think it just takes time. I live in Austria, and some of these measures were only introduced 5 years ago, some are still not implemented. People don't give up smoking overnight, the 20 year lead the US has over these measures is not something we can expect to catch up... Smoking is going down, slowly, and I think it's because of all these measures.

jacknews 3y ago

In my anecdotal experience, it's simply no longer cool to smoke, at all, in fact very much the opposite. I smoked for about 10 years between the mid 80s and 90s. When I started, most of the 'cool', 'sophisticated' etc people seemed to smoke. When I stopped, it was mostly a health choice, but partly because it seemed no longer 'cool', everyone I knew had given up or was trying to. I can't even fathom why anyone would start smoking now, it seems like an affliction of the poor and/or the old rather than anything sophisticated. All of this is mostly a change in fashion, people having a deeper awareness of the health risks, becoming aware of tobacco industry manipulation, etc. No doubt government messaging aided and supported that change, but it is not the only or even the main cause imho.

newaccount74 3y ago
> a change in fashion, people having a deeper awareness Where do you think this change is coming from? When I was a kid, there was a huge billboard right next to my school with a man wearing aviator glasses, an airplane in the background, smoking Memphis cigarettes. That was the coolest guy I've ever seen. Compare that to 20 years later, there's a photo of a depressed guy on the package and a message "smoking causes infertility". When I first started at uni, students still smoked in the auditorium. That was cool. By the time I finished, people who smoked had to go outside and stand in smoking zones like animals. The opposite of cool. There's a reason why the public perception changed. I don't think the public perception would have changed as drastically without government intervention.
- refurb 3y ago
  At least in the US, smoking rates were almost cut in half before any of that stuff even happened (48% to 30%). https://news.gallup.com/poll/237908/smoking-rate-hits-new-low.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/237908/smoking-rate-hits-new-lo... Hell, when I was in high school, you could still smoke at 16. I'd argue the health risks have become way more know, which drove most of the reduction.
- jacknews 3y ago
  I think those things mainly followed, getting a mandate from, the changing fashions; the health-conscious, status and performance oriented 80s, for example, rather than creating it, but I'm sure there's influence both ways.