Nicotine as a Lifestyle Drug

[elfs]

Have you seen the Nicorette Gum ad with the shark? This one? It's funny in its own right, although maybe a bit gruesome in its suggestiveness.

But the weird thing is, the message I take away from the ad is not just that Nicorette will help you deal with cravings, but that nicotine will wake you up. If I was a smoker, this ad would say "we'll help you quit."

But I'm not a smoker. I don't understand the cravings for nicotine. I even managed to drop from nearly 600mg to now less that 50mg of caffeine a day (and that's mostly from chocolate and iced tea), and even on that I'm tapering off to nothing. To me, a non-user, it seems to saying: "Nicotine is like caffeine. It wakes you up. It makes you more aware and alive. Even if you're not a smoker, maybe Nicorette is for you."

Uh, no. Nicotine, even as a gum, is one of the hardest drugs of all to quit. Not doing that one anytime soon.

Comments

[dip-thong.livejournal.com]

To me, the ad shows me how completely distracting a nicotene craving can be, and the idea is that the lozenges free you up to take care of other important things in your life, like sharks. Him repeating "Cigarette. Cigarette. Cigarette." over and over shows me that his initial state is craving, and that after he gets rid of the recurring thought, he then is back to a normal state.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Here's the thing: I don't listen to ads. I habitually hit the mute button. The first few times I saw the ad, I saw it without sound. And that's how I got the reading I did.

Advertisers know that people fast forward, blip, or mute ads. I don't know if my read was unique or not, but without the sound my impression was "generically tired and distracted until he got nicotine."

[alohawolf.livejournal.com]

I disagree with your read of this, when you have a bad craving, it causes you to tune the world out, the only thing you can think about is that craving.

[herewiss13.livejournal.com]

I read it not that the nicotine wakes you up, but that nicotine withdrawal is _just_that_distracting_.

[urox.livejournal.com]

I didn't get the non-smoking message at all. Never have been a smoker either (though I probably got a good dose of second hand growing up).

But now I want iced tea and chocolate. I've got the former...

[grum]

Oddly about half my pharmacy school class took away from our lectures on smoking cessation as you did from that add.

Most of them (thankfully) also settled on your last sentence as their own personal decision on the matter. Though there were a couple who started acknowledging that they were addicted around the same time. Unfortunately they decided that they couldn't afford to deal with quitting and passing their classes simultaneously, so they still smoke.

[slfisher.livejournal.com]

Yep. I've had at least one non-smoking friend take up the electronic 'cigarette' that delivers nicotine, because they want it without the danger of smoking. And several friends quit smoking but have no intention of giving up the electronic 'cigarette.' It's worrisome.

[bldrnrpdx.livejournal.com]

My husband smoked for about 18 years, and chewed for 20+. We saw that commercial together (and a couple of others in the series). He said, like the above commenters, that the addiction really is that distracting and mind-consuming. There's another ad that shows a guy in a diner, completely unable to eat or drink on his own, spilling I think a sugar shaker all over the counter, and I forget what else. The husband says that's an accurate description of someone's function level as they quit smoking as well.

It makes me appreciate more and more the fact that he quit tobacco altogether when we first started dating. I'm extremely flattered that he chose me over such an overwhelming addiction.