Good-bye tobaccy items....

[kawaiitanpopo]

Zizzykitty

I agree with kawaiitanpopo.
Anyone else get the feeling there's some ulterior motive here?

If Gaia were really wanting to be healthy they'd get the Skittles out of EVERYTHING they do anyway.

Exactly! What's up with promoting sugary candy so highly, which is bad for health, while removing tobacco-related items, which are also bad for your health? How are Skittles different and more acceptable? Does Gaia just want its users to be lazy fat slobs and not tobacco addicts or even both? I guess Gaia would rather have their users obese and not addicted to tobacco. I guess obesity is simply not on Gaia's radar and tobacco is. Lame! I think, if Gaia cares about the health of its users and the possible promotion of unhealthy things through the website, they should be consistent with what things are acceptable and unacceptable and get rid of all the unhealthy stuff being "promoted" on Gaia.  

[Flyentologist]

Well Leona, given this is a PG-13 site, I suppose they were in a position where they were receiving complaints and had to remove them. After all, no 13 year old kid can legally get their hands on tobacco.

Also, to have simply done it without any sort of mention would have been noticed eventually. Had Gaia not announced it, it'd have been clear they were trying to cover up their trail and sneak this by us, and we all know how users would react to that.

Also, they'll never get rid of Skittles because of their insane sponsorship. And let's be honest, Skittles aren't going to do nearly as much damage to a person as tobacco products.

 

[Zizzykitty]

Goldman, I do understand that Skittles do much less damage.
But it's the wording of the announcement that annoys me.

Something about "We're making Gaia healthy!"
I don't remember exactly I just remember healthy being in that announcement.
I understand that cigarettes are unhealthy but I think they should have emphasized the first reason you said, that most Gaians can't legally smoke, rather than the health aspect.
Because now they look like big fat hypocrites.
("lololol. We may discourage lung cancer but we're going to shove Skittles in your face everywhere you go on our site!")
I'd accept this much more actually, if they said "We really feel that it's not a good image to portray on this website because y'know, we cater to an age group which over half of can't legally smoke."

I do suppose that brings up other moral issues with "What's appropriate to have on a teen site?", slutty characters and such, but I'm talking smoking right now.  

[dragontamer363]

sweets don't cause cancer tho. Nor are they illegal for under 18s.

tabacco deisgned ot kill you. it's a drug.
you only get obese of sweets if you're a giant retard who eats them constantly.
no offence but true. i mean seriously. the comparison between the two doesn't even stand up.


after all they've taken cigs off most films, banned them in public places, banned advertising etc etc - it's a natural legalistic step.

Quote:

I'd accept this much more actually, if they said "We really feel that it's not a good image to portray on this website because y'know, we cater to an age group which over half of can't legally smoke.

i see your point here, but at teh same time why not promote a helathy message with the announcement?
skittles are a TREAT.
fags aren't a treat, they're an addiction.
you can have sweets with a healthy lifetsyle, but you can't have fags with a healthy lifetsyle
so the logic is still sound.  

[VampressLeona]

iGoldman

Well Leona, given this is a PG-13 site, I suppose they were in a position where they were receiving complaints and had to remove them. After all, no 13 year old kid can legally get their hands on tobacco.

Also, to have simply done it without any sort of mention would have been noticed eventually. Had Gaia not announced it, it'd have been clear they were trying to cover up their trail and sneak this by us, and we all know how users would react to that.

Also, they'll never get rid of Skittles because of their insane sponsorship. And let's be honest, Skittles aren't going to do nearly as much damage to a person as tobacco products.

eek ninja eek Are you talking to me?.....  

[Flyentologist]

VampressLeona

iGoldman

Well Leona, given this is a PG-13 site, I suppose they were in a position where they were receiving complaints and had to remove them. After all, no 13 year old kid can legally get their hands on tobacco.

Also, to have simply done it without any sort of mention would have been noticed eventually. Had Gaia not announced it, it'd have been clear they were trying to cover up their trail and sneak this by us, and we all know how users would react to that.

Also, they'll never get rid of Skittles because of their insane sponsorship. And let's be honest, Skittles aren't going to do nearly as much damage to a person as tobacco products.

eek ninja eek Are you talking to me?.....

Oops, I misread the username above the post I was trying to respond to. Pay no attention. Sorry. razz I think it was directed at Zizzy.

All in all, I agree with dragontamer. Pretty much word for word.

 

[Zizzykitty]

dragontamer363

sweets don't cause cancer tho. Nor are they illegal for under 18s.

tabacco deisgned ot kill you. it's a drug.
you only get obese of sweets if you're a giant retard who eats them constantly.
no offence but true. i mean seriously. the comparison between the two doesn't even stand up.


after all they've taken cigs off most films, banned them in public places, banned advertising etc etc - it's a natural legalistic step.

Quote:

I'd accept this much more actually, if they said "We really feel that it's not a good image to portray on this website because y'know, we cater to an age group which over half of can't legally smoke.

i see your point here, but at teh same time why not promote a helathy message with the announcement?
skittles are a TREAT.
fags aren't a treat, they're an addiction.
you can have sweets with a healthy lifetsyle, but you can't have fags with a healthy lifetsyle
so the logic is still sound.

I understand what you're saying.
I guess that either way you word the health aspect it still doesn't sit right with me.
Maybe I've become overly skeptical since I've been talking about how they're now a corperation and such but the message of health really felt fake to me.
"We really should get rid of the cigarette items, how can we make ourselves look MORE AWESOME in the process?"
Then Gaia becomes the good guy, telling millions of kids (that's how many members Gaia has, right?) that smoking is bad and you don't look sexy doing it.

I'm tempted to argue the treat vs addiction point but I already know my logic is skewed on that from a bias.
And I just realized I'd prove my own point wrong since I have a friend who did treat having a cigarette as a treat, having one maybe once every two weeks or so.
Lately she's been doing it too much, once every other day instead
So I just killed any point I had and you win.
(at least she has the sense to realize she's becoming addicted and is planning on throwing out the rest of her pack before she smokes more.)  

[kawaiitanpopo]

dragontamer363

sweets don't cause cancer tho. Nor are they illegal for under 18s.

tabacco deisgned ot kill you. it's a drug.
you only get obese of sweets if you're a giant retard who eats them constantly.
no offence but true. i mean seriously. the comparison between the two doesn't even stand up.


after all they've taken cigs off most films, banned them in public places, banned advertising etc etc - it's a natural legalistic step.

Quote:

I'd accept this much more actually, if they said "We really feel that it's not a good image to portray on this website because y'know, we cater to an age group which over half of can't legally smoke.

i see your point here, but at teh same time why not promote a helathy message with the announcement?
skittles are a TREAT.
fags aren't a treat, they're an addiction.
you can have sweets with a healthy lifetsyle, but you can't have fags with a healthy lifetsyle
so the logic is still sound.

You can have sweets with a healthy lifestyle, but are kids these days living healthy lifestyles? Do they really need more and more messages about sweets and fattening products? In America at least, kids are way unhealthy and are just eating junk food. They are not necessarily "giant retards". There's not enough education on living a healthy lifestyle and eating healthy. It is harder to eat the right stuff when everything that is bad for you is so cheap and you don't have the money to purchase anything better than that. If kids were more educated and were given the chance to have a healthy lifestyle, then, yeah, it would be their fault if they pigged out on sweets and got obese. How much can you expect from kids these days because sweets are so frequently hardcore advertised to them? How can you expect kids to make good choices when sweets are everywhere being flashed in their faces all the time? Kids cannot escape the advertisements of sweets. They are unavoidable. Gaia is just throwing themselves in the same lot with all those companies advertising sweets to children 24/7. They expect that kids will make an educated, healthy choice despite all the advertising of sweets and unhealthy foods.

I feel like I am kind of being repetitive here, but do you get my point? If Gaia wishes to promote a healthy lifestyle of its users, it should remove all of the unhealthy advertising it does--BOTH the cigs and sweets. If Gaia cared for the health of its users and wanted to promote healthy living, then it should remove those items that do not fit with that image and create an image that portrays that message. And, if Gaia wants to be a whore to Skittles still, then promote healthy choices along with a Skittle sweet TREAT. Gaia is being hypocritical.  

[Arch Angel Neko]

i personally have 100 cigs in my account right now.. still waiting till prices shoot up in the marketplace..

btw i still love cig and the pipe..  

[Arch Angel Neko]

Zizzykitty

Goldman, I do understand that Skittles do much less damage.
But it's the wording of the announcement that annoys me.

Something about "We're making Gaia healthy!"
I don't remember exactly I just remember healthy being in that announcement.
I understand that cigarettes are unhealthy but I think they should have emphasized the first reason you said, that most Gaians can't legally smoke, rather than the health aspect.
Because now they look like big fat hypocrites.
("lololol. We may discourage lung cancer but we're going to shove Skittles in your face everywhere you go on our site!")
I'd accept this much more actually, if they said "We really feel that it's not a good image to portray on this website because y'know, we cater to an age group which over half of can't legally smoke."

I do suppose that brings up other moral issues with "What's appropriate to have on a teen site?", slutty characters and such, but I'm talking smoking right now.

i'd have to say.. that i know that it's kinda sad that they have to take away the cig but maybe its for the better.. cause well for one thing.. they're going to get rare and second thing cig owners are gonna be famous.. that is all.. lol  

[Moonlight_HuangHou]

I missed out a lot but I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it yet...but if they're going to remove the cigs shouldn't for the unhealthiness of it all shouldn't they also remove alcohol related beverages like the wine and cocktails. I mean those are items 13 year old's can't touch (at least not legally in the US).

Did they still keep those?

EDIT: But I guess alcohol doesn't cause cancer......  

[0Moon_Maiden0]

Moonlight_HuangHou

I missed out a lot but I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it yet...but if they're going to remove the cigs shouldn't for the unhealthiness of it all shouldn't they also remove alcohol related beverages like the wine and cocktails. I mean those are items 13 year old's can't touch (at least not legally in the US).

Did they still keep those?

EDIT: But I guess alcohol doesn't cause cancer......

Alcohol can increase the chances for cancer though...and causes other health problems if people aren't careful.  

[Zizzykitty]

Moonlight_HuangHou

I missed out a lot but I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it yet...but if they're going to remove the cigs shouldn't for the unhealthiness of it all shouldn't they also remove alcohol related beverages like the wine and cocktails. I mean those are items 13 year old's can't touch (at least not legally in the US).

Did they still keep those?

EDIT: But I guess alcohol doesn't cause cancer......

Alcohol doesn't cause cancer but you do have a point.
It causes other things.
Liver failure among them, but that's only for HARDCORE drinkers.
It also can rip apart families.
(Though that is an arguable point)

My step-dad used to be a drinker so now he very seldom does it but him and my mom have gotten into some bitter arguments the few times nowadays that he's drunk.  

[kawaiitanpopo]

Moonlight_HuangHou

I missed out a lot but I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it yet...but if they're going to remove the cigs shouldn't for the unhealthiness of it all shouldn't they also remove alcohol related beverages like the wine and cocktails. I mean those are items 13 year old's can't touch (at least not legally in the US).

Did they still keep those?

EDIT: But I guess alcohol doesn't cause cancer......

Another great point of the hypocrisy of this whole matter!  

[Flyentologist]

kawaiitanpopo

Moonlight_HuangHou

I missed out a lot but I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it yet...but if they're going to remove the cigs shouldn't for the unhealthiness of it all shouldn't they also remove alcohol related beverages like the wine and cocktails. I mean those are items 13 year old's can't touch (at least not legally in the US).

Did they still keep those?

EDIT: But I guess alcohol doesn't cause cancer......

Another great point of the hypocrisy of this whole matter!

I hardly find it hypocritical, just the first step of several changes throughout Gaia.