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Stop Smoking Ad... Thailand knows what it's doing.

While the Canadian government is tackling cigarettes by raising taxes, the Thai government is tackling the issue using advertising. I've got to say I prefer the latter approach. 

The following video went viral a couple months ago and as an ex-smoker it's probably the first video I've seen where it didn't so much make me think "Boy, I've got to quit smoking" (most smokers wish they could quit, that's generally not the problem) but it did make me think "Damn, the Thai government seems to actually care about helping people quit."

While the video wouldn't have made me quit, I might have actually given the number a call. While most Western-style health advertisements focus on stigmatizing smoking (hence why there is such a widespread view that smokers are bad, not just that smoking is bad, but that the actual smoker is bad), what the Thai gov has done brilliantly is send a message that the smoker is valuable and doesn't deserve to be harming themselves. 

It's the difference between shaming people and helping people see that they have a problem that needs addressing. While in the West we often seem to think the two things are the same thing, the Thai government clearly gets that they are not. 



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