Chiswickite - formerly The Croydonian

The Department of Health has come up with one of its good ideas, and is intent on doing all it can to forment generational conflict:

"A hard-hitting new Smokefree campaign - 'Worried' - launches today. The ads, aimed at parents who smoke, communicate an uncomfortable message to viewers - that teenage children worry about their parents' future due to the harmful health effects of smoking.

The campaign is supported by new findings which reveal that nearly half (46 per cent) of teenagers are more worried about their parents smoking than anything else, including money, bullying and divorce".

Hmm. I find that just a little hard to credit, as other surveys suggest that children are more worried about spots, weight, having a cool MySpace page and whether that boy / girl they saw on the bus fancies them. They are probably also worried that their parents will just be sooo embarassing in front of their friends too.

And here is the - presumably - unintentionally hilarious bit:

* Nearly a third (29 per cent) of teenagers feel they are the 'health experts' in the family

* Three quarters (75 per cent) have asked or told their parents to stop

* And almost half (43 per cent) are angry that their parents won't listen to them.

The survey, note, polled 11-15 year olds, so the vast majority of parents putting up with these berations are going to be somewhere in their 40s. As such, these parents will be quite aware of the health risks from smoking, having neither been born yesterday nor having hidden away in a cave for a lifetime (unless that cave had a particularly well-stocked humidor, of course).

Labels: generational conflict, Health and inefficiency, the youth of today - complete lightweights?

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 10:09 am. You can skip to the end and leave a response.