TV anti-smoking ads

The anti-smoking ads on TV get 'harder hitting' but are they going to really make a difference. Who are they aimed at? People who don't already smoke? Someone who is addicted probably isn't going to give-up because of another gruesome 'smoking is bad for you' ad on the TV.

Tonight we repeatedly saw a short anti-smoking ad featuring an unfortunate woman apparently suffering mouth cancer from smoking. Very sad, very graphic. But is it going to change anyone's attitude? I'm guessing that smokers, heavy or not, can rationalise away the threat of what the ad portrays. 'It won't happen to me...'

I hate the habit. Smoking a few cigarettes pinched from my mother one day during junior high school days was enough for me. Yuck!

I did wonder if the woman in the ad finally got that call from her agent saying, 'At last, I've found the perfect part for you!'

Rick Clise

Happy peaches?

Since the tropical cyclone wiped-out most of Australia's banana crop the price of bananas in the supermarket is about $13 per kilogram. Beth and I felt extravagant last week when we shopped and we bought three bananas. Cost us about $6.00 for the three. Have to say that they didn't taste good enough to again spend $2 each.

During this banana drought we've been using tinned peach slices on the our brekky cereal and when I looked at a tin of them today I was reminded of an absurd tv commercial that I worked-on in Melbourne many years ago. Conrad Rothman was the grand old man of special effects in Australian film and tv world, and I had the pleasure of working with him on a variety of projects. He was asked to provide the special effects for a canned fruit commercial for a major Australian fruit canner.

Conrad organisd a large clear perspex tank that we filled with about 50 gallons of tinned peach slices, and topped it off with about the same amount of sugar syrup. A high speed cine camera was mounted in front of the tank face and we young special effects assistants had to stick our arms into the peach/syrup mixture and swirl the stuff around in front of the camera. The director's concept was that the camera would be 'flying' through all these peachs. Very high art back then.

Anyway, the surrealism of the moment came to me as we were swirling the peach/syrup mixture around with the director shouting at us, 'I want happy peaches! Give me happy peaches!'

What the heck is a 'happy' peach I thought. Crazy directors...

But look at any tin of peach slices and you'll see that they are always pictured 'smiling'. No frowning peachs on our tins!