These are Canadian cigarette warning messages, which I had not seen until this week. These and about 12 other message rotate on cigarette packages; the message takes up roughly half the package. The messages have been in place for a year now, and this week the Canuck Cancer Assn. announced that they had studied the results of the campaign, and I quote:
"Half the smokers contacted said that the warning had increased their motivation to quit, while more than a third of smokers who tried to quit in 2001 said the labels had been a factor. About a fifth of smokers said the pictures had at least once curbed their urge to light up."
In other words: they didn't work. The twisting and spinning of the study here is remarkable, but the bottom line is that the people who were smokers - or non-smokers - at the beginning of 2001, are still smokers in the beginning of 2002.
There is a Bill Hicks bit about this, but I don't have time to find it...