“Anything without a child on it mate”
I won’t lie, I didn’t finish my final PDHPE exam with the academic glory and praise that my classmates and I (metaphorically) dreamt about in our sleepless nights leading to our High School Certificate. After all, it was a subject densely packed with biological theorems, academic writings on the sociological wellbeing of individuals in and within our community, debates on life and death, aged care facilities, and so on and on.
However, one aspect of this health — orientated subject caught my interest like no other subject. Smoking rates and statistics. Now, I could go on about numbers and data or trends but the underlying fact is that in the ‘good ol’ days’, Australia was like any other nation. Smoking was of course recommended by doctors on our televisions, endorsed by our favourite celebrities, promoted in our favourite sports, cricket in particular was subject to heavy sponsorship by cigarette brands, entire series, months of televised sport, plastered with billboards of any given brand.
But obviously, as we learnt, that was then and this is now. Smoking rates are down significantly, particularly among men, we were told. The prices have skyrocketed due to government taxes imposed upon cigarette brands and you can only obtain them from two places. Firstly, the counter way out back in the supermarket — a real inconvenience if you’ve just bought heavy shopping and potentially, a deterrent for smoking. Fantastic.
The second place you can obtain cigarettes is from a service station. This becomes a significantly less arduous journey for would-be smokers. Grab em while you wait for your coffee. Grab a packet as you pay for your fuel, or those chips, half price means you have more to spend, may as well get a thirty pack. I’ve worked at a prominent service station now for about five months. And let me tell you. Financially, if we stopped selling cigarettes in the absolute mass that we do, the success of the business would read significantly different to the way it does currently.
Now, i’m all for the choice of the individual. People work hard to earn their own money, and I should be no obstacle to their wants. If they want to spend their money on cigarettes so be it. I’m made to give the customers what they want and, ninety-nine percent of the time, the transaction is as normal as buying a bottle of water. Except for one man a week or so back.
In Australia, it is legislated that cigarette packaging can bear no resemblance to the brand’s exuberant colours and patterns — a policy designed (successfully) to limit unintentional brand recognition in children (i.e little Johnny’s dad smoked x while he was a child and now adult Johnny feels a subconscious connection to that brand). In place of this once ‘exciting’ packaging are graphic pictures of various diseases caused by smoking, people smiling in photos with their families, only for the photo next to it showing their hairless, dying bodies spread out on a hospital bed with the caption, “Three months apart” spread out over the bottom.
Arguably the tamest, but most impactful, is a photo of a small child on a respirator as a result of second-hand smoke intake. This image speaks a million words. “Your children as suffering as a consequence to your actions” it reads subconsciously.
When he came to the counter, he ordered two packets. I turned, grabbed them and handed them over. Both wore the photo of the child. As if I had said to him the most hurtful thing he’s ever herd he threw them back to me. “Anything without a child on it mate”. This wasn’t his first time. He’d felt this guilt before in the same position he’s in now, standing and waiting for me to fetch him something a little less meaningful.
And to that I ask, what is the point?
