With regards to the government's 'Tak Nak' anti-smoking campaign , kindly allow me to pose this question: During the course of formulating the campaign, were any smokers invited to

participate?

It is all very well to invite doctors, psychiatrists and NGO members, but to whom is this campaign targeted at? If this were a marketing campaign for a new range of soft drink, a focus group discussion would have been held involving the target market. Likewise, given that smokers (and would-be smokers) are targeted, they should have been involved.

A more effective campaign could be designed if a representative sample of smokers were asked at the onset: 'What would make you stop smoking?' The other issue is how to prevent youngsters from starting to smoke in the first place. Again, smokers can recount their own experiences as to why and how they first started smoking. This way, we can establish the root cause.

Being a reformed smoker myself, I can relate my own experience. I started smoking at the age of 12 and stopped at 23. Nine years and have not touched a cigarette since. I started because of curiosity. I was fully aware of the health hazards as are most first-time smokers so campaigns that bang on and on about the dangers of smoking fall on deaf and stubborn ears. The desire to try that first puff overrides rational thinking.

Most boys at my age start because of peer pressure. The incumbent smokers were the coolest, toughest, most popular boys at school. Smoking meant instant conformity and acknowledgment by this elusive group. The need to 'belong' is ever more prevalent during adolescence therefore the penalty for not smoking would be to become an outcast.

The principles of being cool at that age are based on perverse ideology - being bad is good, dirty is good, breaking the rules is good, going against your parents' wishes is good. Being the goody two shoes square who adheres to a nation-wide social campaign is not good.

James Bond smokes, villains smoke, gangsters smoke, detectives smoke - they are all cool. How can a campaign combat such images and association of ideas? Adolescents start smoking because it is bad; because it is unhealthy; because their parents tell them not to do it; because society frowns upon it. A major advertising campaign merely enforces the 'forbidden fruit' appeal of smoking.

Once you've succumbed to the temptations of smoking, other forces come into play to ensure you continue the habit. Smoking with your mates becomes a form of social bonding. 'Going for a smoke' is a major social event - even the highlight of the day especially for those at boarding schools.

This phenomenon continues into the workplace (which now are mostly non-smoking premises) where office colleagues bond in the smoking room or at the stairwell. Functional and hierarchical barriers do not exist in this bastion where everyone stands (literally sometimes) together in solidarity.

Of course there is the physiological need to continue smoking. The addictive effects of nicotine are well-documented. But being hooked goes beyond nicotine. Smokers are also hooked on the habit of smoking. Lighting up, taking a drag, blowing smoke rings, doing something with your fingers, passing the time - these are all habitual activities involved in smoking.

Smoking a cigarette is also often associated with a situation or another activity e.g. after a meal, sitting on the toilet, having a coffee or a beer, sitting in a traffic jam, waiting for a bus, playing cards, etc. It's just not the same to do any one of these without a ciggie in your hand! Smoking has been elevated to an emotional experience.

This is the reason why it is so difficult to stop smoking. A nicotine patch only replaces one aspect of the whole smoking experience. How can one stop smoking altogether? For me, the reason why I decided to stop was that one morning, I woke up and felt like my lungs were about to collapse. From that point it took me two years to stop completely.

Stopping for me had to be gradual and in the form of milestones. I attribute this approach to my success in kicking the habit. Others believe in 'cold turkey' but more often than not this approach results in a return to the old ways.

My comments are quite generalised and many smokers may disagree with me. Which is why more smokers need to be involved in the discussion of any anti-smoking campaign. People may not like what they hear but this is the reality.

In order to have an effective campaign, the target audience must first be understood by the campaign organisers. Ironically, a professional marketing body was engaged for the campaign but it's sad to say that the approach was anything but market-oriented.