I’m Anti-Popular

Erasmo Calzadilla

When I see nice people I try to imitate them.  This happens to me unconsciously; as I’m sure it does with many others.

For some time, marketing specialists have noted a similar human impulse to participate in beauty, and they exploit this profusely to call the attention to the merchandise they’re trying to push.

Companies try to associate their products with young healthy, beautiful and athletic people, or simply those with power.  The result has been considerable increases in sales, prestige and of course profits.

But I thought that smoking affected people’s health.  My friends who suffer from that vice look prematurely old.  One had to change all of his dental work and another one is called a troll because of the way his teeth look, all pitted and yellowed. What’s more, both guys are my same age.

That’s why I was surprised when I saw a billboard advertising the brand “Popular” cigarettes that was displaying young people as being so vibrant with smiles so strikingly beautiful.

I don’t know what could have convinced $o many people to promote or to allow the promotion of that vice that i$ $o harmful to Cuban$, and e$pecially among youth$.

Our paternal socialist State —which takes care of us with such tirelessness— should reflect on this situation and call attention to the very creative designers of the Popular brand so that the murderous and destructive character of smoking can be noted in their advertising.

It’s not enough to attach a warning label telling people that smoking harms their health, because the overflowing vitality of the models effectively negates it; a single image impresses more than a thousand words.

I propose changing the photo for one with a person dying of cancer.  I’m sure this would convince many people not to walk around with Popular cigarettes hanging from their mouths.  However, it seems that profits are more important than people’s health, though ultimately those profits will have to be spent on caring for those who become sick from the aromatic product.

While we hope that those who are responsible for this reflect on it, I am calling on all people who are sensitive to this issue to take direct action: to protest and boycott the murderous billboards by any and all means possible, and to prevent any more of these destructive signs from being erected in their communities and workplaces.