British Bluntness vs. the Marlboro Mystique

So I spent part of this long weekend with old friends hanging out in Sea Isle City, NJ. Our motley crew of five can be broken down along certain demographic lines:

tobacco use: two former smokers, two current smokers, one pristine-lunged nonsmoker who must have some other vice we don't know about

country of residence: three US residents, one native Brit, one US-born academic who's lived in England for about a decade.

Thus the opportunity to compare cigarette packs.

Well, it's not hard to guess which country has a coherent national healthcare system and which is completely beholden to corporate interests. On the right, a pack of Marlboros purchased in the States, with its shameless appeal to the Marlboro-country mystique: the bucking horse! The cowboy silhouetted in the sunset, arm triumphantly raised! The purple mountains' majesty (well, OK, blue) in the background! The outer wrap works with the little red-and-gold logo doodad to evoke the idea of the setting sun. Because after a hard day of wrangling cattle, it's your God-given American right to enjoy a relaxing smoke as you gaze serenely out over the boundless horizon, secure in your belief in Manifest Destiny—oh, wait, you mean you're just a 9-to-5 cubicle drone who's never been near a bull in your life? Eh, that's OK, you can still buy our product.

On the left, a pack of Marlboros purchased in the UK. No sissy 6-point Surgeon General's warning here; they get right to the point in stark black and white. Smoking kills, you know it kills, I know it kills, so we won't even bother going into the particular means by which it might kill you, as you're probably already quite familiar with the grim details, but we thought we'd do you the little courtesy of reminding you that you're choosing to spend money for the privilege of inhaling toxins that—did we mention?—might kill you.

Disclaimer 1: I'm not mocking smokers here; I know how compelling this irrational habit can be.

Disclaimer 2: I'm not sure how effective the warning actually is—the two smokers in the crowd also happen to be the two UK residents, but obviously this is a limited sample size to draw any conclusions about. It's interesting to see the difference in what makes it onto the pack, though.