Tobacco marketers have long known the damage they’re causing to individual people, families and public health systems, and yet they continue to capitalize on tobacco sales. In fact, tobacco is making a comeback, with more youth smoking today than in recent decades. We all can agree that smoking sucks, but so do the people who push it.
If this was the only underhanded industry we had to contend with, we would already have our work cut out for us. Unfortunately, there are plenty others who turn a blind eye to the broader world around them. Here are some professions that seriously suck.
Tobacco Spokespeople
It’s bad enough that the tobacco companies knew their product was killing people and causing lung cancer back in the 1950s—long before they admitted it to the general public (and were subsequently forced to put warning labels on their packaging). But to this day, they continue to skirt around the issue of nicotine addiction, and how serious it really is, because that would destroy their public relations argument that smoking is a matter of “personal choice”.
So how exactly do tobacco spokespeople and PR firms get away with this? They blame the victims of their products, claiming that smokers knew the effects of their product (despite denying the risks themselves). Wow, guys.
VictimBlaming.Sucks and FalseAdvertising.Sucks, too. If you want to tell the world how much TheTobaccoIndustry.Sucks, consider using your own domain to call out the smoke and mirrors behind the smoking industry.
Deforestation and Loggers
Deforestation sucks, and so do the types of people who willingly cut down 1.5 acres of rainforest per second. In fact, at this rate there will be no rainforests left in 100 years. The selfish among us say “that’s not my problem”, but the rest of us know better. The loss of these forests contributes to between 12 and 17% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.
We are already feeling the effects of this today, such as a global increase in temperature and sea levels. We feel guilty not carpooling or recycling every scrap of paper, so how do loggers not take pause when they are clearing out vast swathes of a vital resource every second?
Greenhouse gasses suck, but we’ve known that forever. Agree? Let’s call out the industry with Deforestation.Sucks, KillingTheRainforest.Sucks or Logging.Sucks and let the world know that we’re not going to stand to see all our trees fall.
Debt Collectors
Hopefully you’ve never been on the receiving end of one of these calls. Not only are debt collectors trained to be ruthless, they often resort to underhanded (and sometimes illegal!) tactics to get the money. Horror stories circulate about debt collectors calling people at work and even making threats—so how exactly do debt collectors live with themselves?
Owing money is never good, but people deserve to be treated with basic respect and decency, no matter their financial debt. It’s no wonder that the general consensus seems to be that debt collectors suck.
DebtCollection.Sucks and it’s never okay to harass or threaten people. Let’s push for kinder methods with CollectionAbuse.Sucks and PhoneHarassment.Sucks to put an end to questionable methods of getting people to cough up their debts.
“Fat Shaming” Marketers
The body positivity movement is pushing back hard but that doesn’t seem to stop companies from using body insecurity and fat shaming to try and sell their brand. Companies like Abercrombie and Fitch say average-sized women—in America, about a size 14—aren’t their target market; Lululemon hides all higher-sized workout wear; Gold’s Gym was called out for blatant fat shaming in their advertising. Apparently, companies are comfortable distorting young peoples’ views on what a healthy body looks. It’s no wonder so many youth wind up feeling unhappy with their bodies: only 5% of women naturally have the proportions favored by the American media.
If you need to make people feel bad to buy your product, maybe your product isn’t that great in the first place. Agree? Consider using a domain like BodyShaming.Sucks or FatShaming.Sucks to let advertisers know that we won’t be shamed into hating our bodies.
The Takeaway
There are a lot of professions out there that suck, but there are a lot of people pushing for positive change, too. For every tobacco spokesperson, logger, debt collector or fat shamer, there are lobbyists, politicians and activists pushing to put an end to these practices.
Whether you agree or disagree that these professions seriously suck, you can use a .SUCKS platform to join the conversation.
Photos: Shutterstock / evgeniykleymenov, Shutterstock / Olena Yakobchuk, Shutterstock / Loboda Dmytro, Shutterstock / Gerry Boughan, Shutterstock / Pressmaster
