Why providing ashtrays does not in any way promote or encourage smoking:
Short Explanation:
Because smokers are going to smoke with or without an ashtray.
We think it's better 'with' and we're pretty sure the environment agrees with us. It's as simple as that. No ifs, no maybes and no butts about it.
Longer Explanation:
You actually need a longer explanation?!?! OK, please read the information below.
Firstly, no-one ever looked at a Personal Ashtray and decided to take up smoking as a habit...
If anyone ever suggests to you that providing ashtrays may in some way encourage smoking, ask them to consider the following propositions:
- Hard-hats and helmets encourage head injuries...
- Seat-belts and airbags promote collisions...
- Tetanus shots encourage people to step on rusty nails...
- Smoke-detectors promote arson or the lighting of fires...
- Lifejackets encourage people to capsize their boats...
They are ridiculous comments but we're serious.
If anyone ever said that a seat-belt encourages dangerous driving, you'd call them an effing idiot - and they'd deserve it. The fact is that if someone has a car accident, it's far better if they are wearing a seat-belt than not. It's called prevention.
And it's for the same reason that if someone smokes, we - and over 25,000 organisations around the planet - think it's far better if they have access to an ashtray rather than not - cause we all know what's possibly going to happen if they don't.
The above items prevent problems - they don't encourage or promote the problem. And it's for exactly the same reason that ashtrays don't encourage or promote smoking - they simply prevent any possibility of cigarette butt littering - and promote responsible cigarette butt disposal.
"We are a hospital so to suggest that we may be promoting smoking is just ludicrous. Though we actively promote quitting smoking, the reality is that many of our patients, visitors and some of our staff smoke. The difference is that now with No BuTTs Personal Ashtrays, since we went Smoke-Free, they don’t litter their butts wherever they go to smoke - and everytime they use their Personal Ashtray they see the link to the quit-line." - Sam Connery, Southside Health.
No BuTTs award winning Personal Ashtrays encourage smokers to do the right thing with their butts - wherever they go and wherever they smoke - and even more importantly, give them the ability to do exactly that.
No BuTTs Personal Ashtrays not only protect the environment they also protect the public image and profile of any organisation that employs or caters to smokers from the very damaging effects of Affiliated Butt Litter.
Affiliated Butt Litter is the cigarette butt litter emanating from any organisation's smokers, whether they're staff, contractors, customers, passengers, members, students, patients, visitors, etc.
Fact: Over 75% of No BuTTs Personal Ashtray clients order their Personal Ashtrays branded not only with their logo, but also printed with one or more of the following:
- A quit smoking slogan
- A quit smoking help-line phone number
- A link to a quit smoking website
- A QR Code to getting help quitting smoking
Anyone who suggests that these organisations are encouraging or promoting smoking is, well, we're sorry to have to say it, but they're an Ash-hole.
"To think that by providing personal ashtrays to our smokers we’re somehow encouraging smoking completely misses the point. We’re promoting high standards of environmental responsibility and our Personal Ashtrays even have an anti-smoking message on them." - Ron Davis, AB Transport.
As a part of No BuTTs ongoing R & D we regularly interview smokers and non-smokers.
Since July 2012 we have asked over 1,000 smokers the following questions:
Question: Has an absence of any butt litter disposal infrastructure (ie ashtrays) ever stopped you from lighting up?
Answer: Less than 1% answered yes.
Question: What would you do if a location goes or is Smoke-Free and prohibits smoking?
Answer: Over 99% of respondents answered along the lines of "go as far as I have to and as close as I can to smoke."
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