The ugly face of the nanny state

The slippery slope heuristic says that anything that is tried in tobacco control will be copied in food control, alcohol control and gambling control sooner or later. Anti-smoking advertisements have used repulsive imagery for years and so it is no surprise to see it being used by the anti-sugar wowsers in Australia. As with the graphic imagery of the anti-tobacco lobby, the purpose is not to educate but to repel.


It's funny to think that the so-called public health lobby accuses every industry it doesn't like of 'aggressive advertising' and using the 'tobacco playbook'. The reality is that commercial advertising is extremely tame compared to the vile, manipulative and frequently dishonest output of the nanny state, and the only 'playbook' being used is the neo-prohibitionist blueprint written by the anti-smoking lobby.