The BIG Kahuna

I was at an appointment yesterday meeting with a doctor about search engine optimization. On the way out I gave my slip to the valet and this man came out of the medical center. He was obviously in bad sorts as he was wheeling his IV and walking very gingerly.??

He strolled over to where the cars were dropping people off and another man got out of his car and handed the sick, wheeling IV man a pack of Camel?s. I couldn?t believe my eyes. Was this man about to smoke? Is smoking that important that even if you have an IV in your arm you can?t resist??Yes, smoking was that important and addictive.??

So as I was standing next to him, he took the cigarettes and hacked up a lung, lit the cigarette and smoked it, IV and all.?All I could think about was how powerful the branding was of cigarette companies. Even after all the years of educating and trying to get people to stop smoking the cigarette companies continue to keep their brand identity in place. ?I?ve never smoked a day in my life. I know it?s bad for me and therefore don?t do it. I know it will kill me if I started. But people that are addicted may have fell into the branding trap of the cigarette companies. I hope they can get out of that trap and help themselves!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 at 10:05 am and is filed under Branding Blunders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.