Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Campaign uses dying man

Virginia Fenton,Ap
Wednesday 24 July 2002 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A new campaign in France hopes to shock smokers into kicking the habit by using real-life images of a man dying of lung cancer.

The television warning depicts an emaciated 49-year-old man sitting on his bed, five days before his death. "This is just a smoker who started at 14 when you think you're immortal," says a voice on the 27-second film. "He could never stop."

Images of the man's life appear on his bedroom wall throughout the film, which ends with a warning: "Starting at 14 is fatal." Gerard Dubois, the president of the National Anti-Smoking Committee, which produced the film, said the man shown, Richard Gourlain, had asked his wife to film him hoping the footage could be used to discourage others from smoking. Gourlain died in 1999.

"You can say it's sensational, it's too tough, but we wanted to show the truth," said Mr Dubois.

An anti-smoking campaign last month said a common product had been found to contain toxic substances and asked people to phone a toll-free number for information.

Half-a-million people called, and were told the product was the cigarette.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in