Health warning labels, much like those on cigarette packs in various countries around the world, may eventually be attached to advertisements for flights or holidays that include air travel, to remind passengers of the global warming crisis.
A leading British think-tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), suggested over the Easter holidays that such warnings would make people think twice about the impact their holiday has on the environment.
According to the IPPR, "the evidence that aviation damages the atmosphere is just as clear as the evidence that smoking kills...we know that smokers notice health warnings on cigarettes, and we have to tackle our addiction to flying in the same way."
True, smokers notice the warning labels, initially finding them annoying, then getting accustomed to them. They really have little effect on a smoker. Sure, it 'might' deter a few people from starting to smoke in the first place, but for people who have smoked for some time, they have little effect. (Some cigarette packs in Finland state "Smoking is addictive. Don't start", which is a bit too late for the majority of smokers who see the warning. In addition, some of the duty-free cigarette cartons on sale around Europe are contradicting. At a duty-free shop on a cruise ship from Finland to Sweden, I say two different makes of cigarettes, next to each other, one saying "Smoking Can Kill", while the other said "Smoking Kills".)
The warning labels on holiday ads will have a similar, yet profoundly lesser of an effect on flyers. With smoking, you have a choice of smoking or not smoking. With flying, there are instances when you have really have little choice.
Smoking is (usually) a personal choice, whereas flying is at times a necessity, or atleast an cheaper and easier alternative to expensive and slower means of travel, such as cars, buses and boats.
While it's well known that smoking has ill effects on a smoker's health, and health warning labels may be in the right place on cigarette packs, slapping a warning label on ads for holidays seems to be slight overkill.
If the only reason for these warnings is merely to raise public consciousness about the correlation between flying and global warning, a little sticker on a large poster of bikini-clad girls on a beach in Tahiti will not be noticed by most people.
It seems that this whole issue of warning labels on ads for holidays is just a continuation of the global warning awareness craze that seems to be gripping the western world right now. (Now we just need people to get with the program and actually start doing something about the issue, more than just banning incandescent light bulbs and plastic grocery bags...)
If this health-conscious and global warming-scared society really wants to get real on the health warning labels, why not slap those things on everything that actually is bad for humans and the environment. How's about these ideas?:
CARS: "Driving fast might cause you to wrap your car around a tree." (Placed on the inside of the front windshield.)
GUNS: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people. With guns. And bullets. So guns are bad."
KNIVES: "Caution: Inserting the sharp end in another human being might be fatal."
ALCOHOL: "Drinking alcohol may cause you do something stupidly fatal." (Actually, a law requiring health warning labels on all alcoholic beverages will come into effect in Finland by January 2008. Check out this blog post for more info on the issue)
RAZOR BLADES: "Shaving too close to the jugular is not suggested. Also, do not digest."
PLAYING CARDS: "Gambling May Damage Your Bank Account."
DONKEYS: "More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in airplane crashes."
The point here is that slapping a sticker/label on something detrimental to one's health is not always the best way to go about saving humanity. Are we just waiting for a warning ticket to show up plastered on the side of the 747 you were supposed to fly to Tahiti with? Slapping a sticker on harmful items doesn't save the world...
Source:
UK policy body wants health warnings on flights - Yahoo! News
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