Wednesday, November 12, 2008

What got into her?

I was loitering at the bus stop the other day, looking for some action, when i noticed these little white tubes discarded on the ground.

"What the hell?"

Upon closer examination, they proved to be the containers in which one buys a single cigarette.

I know i am naive, but i hadn't realized that you could buy a single cigarette, all packaged in a plastic container. This is wrong on SO MANY levels, that i just keep thinking of more.

Packaging waste. This just takes it to a new level of awfulness.

Marketing to kids. If anyone believes that this is not a way to market cigarettes to kids, you are move naive and foolish than me.

Marketing to poor people. So you can't find the (what is it up to these days? $4? $5?) cash for a whole pack, no problem! For 50 cents, or whatever, you can still suck some nicotine into your lungs. That this works out to $10 per pack. Nice work tobacco industry.

Just because people will buy something, doesn't mean it's a good idea. Except that of course it's a good idea if you stand to make some money. Bastards!

This just makes me sick.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

On the plus side?

THey fit neatly into your tampon holder in your purse....

Brad said...

There's always someone out there ready, willing and able to take advantage.

What are you doing loitering at the bus stops? - Now I have more to worry about.

SUEB0B said...

I'm still amazed that anyone smokes at all.

Gordo said...

That's just ... heinous. Have you seen Thank You For Smoking, meno?

Princess in Galoshes said...

I had no idea such a thing existed. I could fill up a tampon applicator with some asphalt and arsenic, it sounds like there's a market for it. Mine could even be biodegradable!

thailandchani said...

That sounds more like blunts.. and they have some sort of use in consuming drugs.. but I'm not certain about all of that. They come individually packed like that.



~*

QT said...

I think they made it illegal to sell single cigs in Wisconsin a few years ago - mostly b/c of the teen smoking angle.

flutter said...

that is just so effin gross

meno said...

daisy, i think you could fit a few of them....oh never mind.

brad, well, actually i was waiting for the bus, but loitering sounded more scurrilous.

suebob, yeah, it's not easy to understand.

gordo, i did indeed. i thought of it when i saw these packages.

princess, it would probably be a big hit too. You'll be rich.

chani, i had to go and google blunts, as i have never heard of them. It's been an educational day.

qt, well it sure ain't illegal here. i even went into a 7-11 and asked.

flutter, gross indeed.

jaded said...

Can your high horse keep its balance on a soap box?

furiousBall said...

i bet when satan watches tobacco company brainstorming meetings he gets a boner

The Real Mother Hen said...

There is this BS TV commercial selling individually wrapped prune, that really got to my nerves. Now I know about the individually wrapped cigarette!
I hereby wish that people responsible for creating so much waste will shit a hedgehog!

TTQ said...

I'm with Chani and betting it has something to do with drugs. Like the glass tube they use to sell singles roses (fake or real) is used as a crack pipe.

sari said...

Yesterday I drove to pick up my boys after school and saw a little Mini-Cooper with a giant can of Red Bull on top pulled over on the side of the road. There were a couple of college girls inisde hitting up all the junior high kids waiting for the free shuttle bus with Red Bulls. It really pissed me off.

Is this just me? Or does that seem wrong to anyone else. I just kept thinking if it were my eleven year old sitting there when I have never let him have a Red Bull and he hardly even drinks sodas, I'd be out there and have that college girl down on the ground. Which is a really bad example to set, I know.

Lynnea said...

Patches is sure surly today.

Um I'm still stuck on the 'looking for some action' part.

meno said...

patches, Hey y'all! Watch THIS. OOooops.

furious, i have no doubt that you are right.

mother hen, owwww! Throw in some 'roids and i agree.

ttq, nope. They had "Marlboro" printed on the side.

sari, i'll hold her down for you.

maggie, Today? Hey, the economy is down, i gotta make money somehow.

Mrs4444 said...

Where does one purchase these horrible things? I'm just curious; you know, research interest and all...I haven't recently quit smoking or anything.... (JK, I'm just messin' with ya :)

Anonymous said...

well, I reckon if you're determined to put that stuff into your body (says the diet coke swilling lush), then why not look stylish with your cute little individually wrapped ciggies?

Mona Buonanotte said...

I know you can buy one beer at the store, but one cig? No. Totally wrong.

tt said...

never heard of it! There's always someone out there with a gimmick...and it works! Odd though.
Maybe it's marketed? for people who are quitting?? just buy one at a time?? Interesting.

Anonymous said...

that's just annoying.

egan said...

Great for snorting coke (both types).

Joan said...

I had no idea that single cigarettes could be purchased and now I'm sorry I know. What a waste!

Say It said...

its amazing what people will do to earn a buck.

lu said...

I'm trying to picture a marketing team, sitting around a table, planning something like this. I bet they go home and take their children to church and ask good to pray for all the heathens of the world.

luckyzmom said...

I have always thought singly wrapped cheese was a ridiculous waste too, though not as unhealthy.

PS I just posted twice and you haven't commented yet. Is everything alright? You're usually the first. Am I starting to sound needy?

Anonymous said...

Oh no. Don't tell me about this. Bad bad bad.

meno said...

Mrs. 4444, i asked about them at a 7-11. And if you have recently quit smoking, i salute you.

holly, i suppose, if it weren't for the kids who buy them, i wouldn't really care.

mona, totally.

tt, i maintain that they are marketing to kids.

de, that's a mild word for it.

egan, it's good to have your perspective on this. I use a coke spoon myself.

joan, it's pretty disgusting.

say it, while the tobacco has no corner on the sleaze market, they are sure in the top ten of sleaze.

lu, i bet you are right. You are as cynical about this as i.

luckyzmom, i'm fine, i just haven't been near a computer today.

anne, i won't tell your kids either.

Dick said...

I kind of think that the original idea was that it might be a help to those trying to quit smoking. It does kind of limit how many they are likely to buy and smoke in a day. But I don't know if it really works that way or not.

Tink said...

Although I can't agree with the waste or the marketing, it IS nice that Hoop can buy one cigarette instead of a whole pack when he "sneeks" off to have a light. He thinks I don't know *sigh*. If he has a whole pack around, he'll smoke them all.

Tink said...

Oops. "Sneaks" Whateva.

Mels Place in Big Bear said...

Maybe you could make art out of it?

Vulgar Wizard said...

Has anyone ever seen the cup or box near the cash register of a convenience store which holds single cigarettes to be sold for a quarter a piece because the packs were damaged in shipping/distributing and some were crushed but not all?

No?

Just me?

I see.