Smoking : Trends of the Future
 | The Phillip Morris Heatbar is
set to save second hand
smokers... but at what price? |  |
For
years the argument over the benefits, dangers and social aspects of
smoking have been at the forefront of youth culture. In this modern age
of science, we have banned cigarette commercials, created "Nicotine"
patches and even resorted to graphic advertisements to turn the world
off from the toxic tar created in a smoker's lungs.
The latest
craze to see the light of day is, quite possibly, the stupidest yet.
It's a device which not only makes smoking less accessible - but is
actually just as, if not more, harmful to your body than cigarettes
themselves!
News coming out recently stated that Cigarette
giant, Philip Morris, will soon launch Australia's first "hand-held
electronic smoking device" from its South Yarra concept store in
Melbourne in a move that is likely to infuriate anti-tobacco groups.
Revealed by The Age in June of 2007, the controversial "Heatbar" device
is to be sold from the New Movement Tobacconist on Chapel Street and
will usher in - according to marketing material from Philip Morris - a
"new movement in smoking, where art meets technology", .
The
Heatbar is roughly the size of a mobile phone and heats specifically
designed cigarettes without actually burning them. The "Heatbar" will
be available in 4 different colours and are likely to retail for about
AU$49. Unlike normal cigarettes, the heatbar supposedly delivers an
"aerosol which gives the consumer the flavour and aroma associated with
smoking" and also claims to reduce second-hand smoke by more than 90%.
Nerida
White, a Philip Morris spokeswoman, said it was "illegal to promote
tobacco products" and even conceded that smoking through the device was
no safer than normal cigarettes (but obviously safer for those around
the fool ingesting large quantities of chemicals into their body).
What
makes the announcement even more bizarre is the news that the Heatbar
has been a "miserable failure" overseas. Would it have anything to do
with the fact the device looks like an electric tour (or some form of
questionable adult toy?). Fiona Sharkie, of QUIT, has accused Phillip
Morris of "deliberately targeting young people" with the positioning of
the product in "one of Melbourne's most fashionable retail precincts".
Will
this futuristic device take off? Or will it fizzle away into the pop
culture stratosphere will Dr. Pepper, Pop Rocks and Shoes with
Roller-Skates in them? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
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