Scare tactic! Will it work?

As vendors stocked up on cigarette packs with gory pictures on World No Tobacco Day, Himadree and Rahul Sabharwal asked Delhiites if this could scare them into quitting.

As vendors stocked up on cigarette packs with gory pictures, HT City asked Delhiites if this could scare them into quitting.

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Smoking

DJ-restaurateur Rummy Sharma feels that although the move will "have an impact on someone who has just started smoking, it can’t put off someone who has been smoking for years".

Priya Sharma, 21, echoes that. “I doubt if any chain smoker will quit,” she says, not willing to stub out her habit. Socialite Shaleen Jain, not a smoker, believes, “It may be a deterrent, but I don’t think people will quit. If the government doesn’t want people to smoke, it should just ban cigarettes.”

Others are more optimistic. “I’m not a regular smoker, but if I see those pictures, I’m sure I will stop,” says designer Abdul Halder.

Designer Rahul Jain adds, “The mindset of a chain smoker will change seeing those pictures. We need something grotesque to jolt us.”

Suhail Sharma, an engineering student, feels, “It [the pack] definitely puts you off. I bought one the other day, and those pictures prompted me to not smoke. I think it would help a lot of people to quit.”