Outraged with CDC ad campaigns

Unreal.  I am happy to help with anything to get these ads removed.

 

Jill - proud of my ostomy 14 years and counting.

I hate to say this but it is a harsh reality. There are people who truly feel that way about their ostomy. I'm sure we have all talked to someone along our jounrney who felt like the people in these ads. I know I have. At least these ads are trying to make people think about their smoking and how they can prevent things from happening to them. No, it doesn't paint a pretty picture but that's the point. I'm all for getting people to quit smoking. I guess I see it differently. That it isn't meant to disrespect someone with an ostomy but to get smokers to think about what could happen to them and it could be avoided. 

Ditto for me.

I have had a violently negative reaction to an outside bag my whole life (probably because I had one when I was little)...I have a k pouch and have the same violent reaction whenever I need a legbag...not everyone manages to mentally adapt. 

This is not to say that those who do adapt (super heros and earth angels) should be dissed...just that not all of us can. 

I agree that anything that scares smokers (especially kids) away from their packets is good even if it is bad.

Sharon

I agree with the post of Marianne. I truly feel that way about the ileostomy I had and wouldn't want it back under any circumstances.  It is the harsh reality that this is how most people feel as well.

 

If there are any studies showing that these ads are actually effective in getting people to stop smoking I am unaware of them.  Most people I know that were long time smokers only stopped after they got cancer or whatever and they were facing impending death.  The rare exception to this rule was my mother, a 25 year smoker at age 42, who only stopped when she fell asleep with cigarette in her mouth on her beloved $3,000 sofa, causing beloved $3,000 sofa to catch fire.  My mother was able to douse the fire by throwing the flaming sofa pillows out the front door (I witnessed the whole thing as a 14 year old playing in the front yard).  But the sofa was ruined and that was it for Mom's smoking habit.

 

I think most people need a major real life trauma to stop, whereas these ads are artificial drama and not real traumas to most people.  Most people think, "that will not happen to me", until it does.

I think it's extremely unfortunate that the CDC in an effort to combat smoking and its affects publically expresses the most negative aspects of having an ostomy both  physically and mentally.   While having an ostomy may not be a preference, it has saved many lives and improved the health of many people. In today's world where we want to be accepting of all people, why would we ostracize the ostomy community?  Would we allow public criticism of people who may have dealt  with other health issues allow this?  Will we see the next anti-smoking ad of a woman sharing her double mastectomy because she smoked and not see an outrage by other woman who may have had a mastectomy and never smoked? Would we make them feel less than 'normal'? Shame on the CD who has created collateral damage to the ostomy community.  Thankfully some of us will strike back and the American Ostomy Association is working this issue too.

Part of the reason people struggle with ostomies is because they are portrayed this way.  THAT is why this is outrageous.  

Jill M,

I couldn't agree with you more!!! I urge all of you to express your views by emailing TobaccoMediaCampaign@cdc.gov

 

Let them know that it's not okay to damage the ostomy community at the expense of getting their anti-smoking campaign across. They need to fight their own battles without damaging others. I continue to be outraged and if several of you would voice your opinions it will have an impact. Many of you have or had ostomies and its not okay for the CDC to use the ostomy as a fear tactic. If that's how we allow a governmental body  to portray ostomies then we're not standing up for ourselves. How dare the CDC cause collateral damage to many who have fought hard at fighting our own diseases.

Prior to seeing your post on this site, I had already commented online on the add and called the CDC and voiced my extreme disappointment in their ads.  I have always been a supporter of the CDC and I believe it is certainly commendable to do all they can to encourage others not to smoke...but not at the expense of others. IBD is a disease that is just now starting to be talked about in the public arena.  Our symptoms are often symptoms people don't want to share with other people because of their embaressing  nature.  When a disease is not talked about, it doesn't get as much research money; and therefore, it takes longer to find a cure.  Ostomies have a similar plight and they are too often the result of a long fought battle with cancer or IBD.  It takes courage to tell others you an ostomy.  I, for one, believe that we would all be served by ending the stigma of ostomies.  These commercials do nothing but perpetuate it. Count me in.

All they are saying is you can avoid this.
We avoided it by getting pouches.
It would be hypocritical for pouchers to say this ad is wrong.

The problem is, I sort of see both sides here. While it bothers me to see ostomies depicted in such an negative light and I understand why the ad strikes a nerve, at the same time, I don't think the ad is meant to stigmatize those with ostomies as much as it is meant to show people who choose to smoke what could happen if they do not curb the habit. This ad targets a very specific audience. While an ostomy greatly improves the quality of life for many IBD patients, the difference between ourselves and the smokers targeted in this ad is that we have a disease, through no fault of our own, that may be "cured" or improved by an ostomy, whereas with smokers, they have made a choice that could lead to an ostomy, and since this end result could be avoided by quitting smoking, it therefore remains within their power to prevent it. All other things being equal, I do not believe there is anyone in the world who would choose an ostomy over a functioning colon. So if there was a way that you could prevent that outcome, wouldn't you at least try? While IBD patients did not have that choice, many smokers still do. They can quit and keep their colon function relatively stable. That is the difference, and that is the message this ad is trying to convey. Nobody wants an ostomy and that is the bottom line. The difference here is a situation that can potentially be avoided vs. a situation that cannot. In that context, the ad does not offend me.

 

I also want to add that I lived with an ostomy for over 2.5 years, so I speak from experience. I've lived through all the faces of having an ostomy, positive and negative alike. While I adjusted to my ostomy, it would never be my first choice to go back to one. I'd have to have a severely compromised quality of life before I made that decision. I also want to add that I did encounter a few people at the IBD clinic who hated their ostomies so much, they would rather be dead than continue to live with theirs. It upset me to hear that, but it's a harsh reality for many who have to have an ostomy for one reason or another.  I feel very lucky that I never held such a negative opinion of mine. But again, it's not something I would ever willingly choose to do over. Just food for thought.

I did watch the videos at the CDC website. I have not seen them broadcast on TV.

 

I see them as that one person's feelings about her own personal experience. She had problems with the colostomy coming loose and it made her fearful of going out. She has regrets about her life choices, but admits that she had to "get over being squeamish." She did not say it was worse than death (like I have heard some people say). 

 

I don't see it being any more offensive than the ads with people with tracheostomies due to laryngectomy surgery because of smoking related cancer.

 

Jan  

I agree Jan. I have seen those tracheotomy anti-smoking commercials on TV for a long time and I never once thought of them as offensive to persons with tracheotomies.  There is no functional difference between the tracheotomy ads and the ostomy ads.  You can find offense in anything I suppose. I think it's all a matter of perception. There is nothing objectively offensive about any of these ads.  

 

This is not like the debate over the offensiveness of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons which got their author and some others shot and killed by people who were offended by them. In that case you could at least argue that the cartoons were offensive under the "reasonable Muslim" standard.  Whether someone deserved to be shot and killed for writing an arguably offensive cartoon is of course another issue.

 

I am curious however in what studies show as to how effective these ads actually are in getting smokers to stop smoking.  If they are not effective in stopping people from smoking, they should not be aired.  As far as I am concerned that is the SOLE criteria the CDC should use in running or not running the ads, but I don't know what the studies show in this regard.  Anything else beyond that is just drama.