The 30-second commercial, which first aired on all the four main language channels last week, is a graphic depiction of a woman afflicted with oral cancer. The camera zooms in on a tight shot of her face with a diseased tongue, decaying teeth and chapped lips riddled with sores.
According to the HPB, since last Tuesday’s launch of the three-month-long Smoking Control Campaign, its toll-free smoking QuitLine (1800-4382000) has seen a five-fold increase in the number of calls.
Housewife Leong Sow Chan was one of the peeved parents. Her nine-year-old daughter was so traumatised by the commercial the first time she saw it that she had a nightmare that night.
While she still does not think the commercial is in appropriate taste, she admitted that it "definitely turns me and my non-smoking family off. We are so disgusted we either switch channels when the ad comes on, or look away".
clipped from: www.channelnewsasia.com