May 9, 2001

10:47 AM

As a struggling ex-smoker, I applaud these people for the effort. But part of me still wonders if Unfiltered (a "reality TV" webshow about 5 teenage smokers) is going to have any impact on teens who smoke.
posted by Reggie452 (3 comments total)

Does anyone really watch this? I wish they had some kind of explanation of the episodes, not in RM format...
posted by ph00dz at 7:02 AM on May 10, 2001

I really doubt that anyone is watching this thing. It's not exactly getting a lot of promotion. It seems like an easy way for a state's politicians to spend a huge chunk of their anti-smoking budget without offending the tobacco companies (who probably paid for those same politicians' seats in office). Sigh.

My main concern is that most of the students on the show probably won't be able to quit. God knows it's one of the toughest things I've ever done. And if these kids fail, it might actually prevent kids who smoke from trying to quit.

BTW - I read that most of the crew was hired from MTV's "Real World" team.
posted by Reggie452 at 10:25 AM on May 10, 2001

If I were a teen again, something like this would never have gotten me to quit...or prevented me from starting. In hindsight, maybe my dad should have just whacked me upside the head several times instead of "tolerating" my nascent addiction. I love smoking, though...the problem is that I don't want to quit...I want to want to quit, but I just don't want to. Make sense? But this site, with it's "hip" kids, slick media savvy, etc, is a big yawn, and kids today are waaaay too jaded/cynical/smart to fall for this type of blatant "in your face-ism."
posted by davidmsc at 4:35 PM on May 10, 2001