Cigarette warning labels

Warning labels on cigarette packets are, these days, fucking huge. And I don’t doubt that they might serve to create guilt amongst smokers. But the problem is, if you’re already a smoker, well, the tobacco industry have won because you can’t quit. Unless you’re a hybrid of Malcolm X and Gandhi, that is.

So I think they should have warning labels before you buy. And this means, say, a big banner in front of the plethora of cigarette packs that you can buy in a corner shop, off-license or similar. As if to say: Look, don’t fuck about. This stuff is deadly. You shouldn’t have any reason to buy it at all. Unless you can’t read. You moron.

Now, obviously, the main objection to this is that the retailers won’t stand for it. But what if you say that they can have 20-25% of the banner? I’d like that.

Because you’d go into a corner shop and, behind the cash registers and the staff, you’d have a bank of cigarettes (and, to be fair, aspirin, paracetemol and other over-the-counter drugs), topped by a big banner saying a) mostly “Don’t buy cigarettes, they’ll kill you”, and b) a smaller adjunct saying “Try our lovely sandwiches”.