Saturday, March 1, 2008

Please Don't Spit

Last night as I was riding the subway back home from a piano concert, a guy spit on the floor of the train. Not once. Three times.

He was decent looking, in his 20s, and left three wet gobs of saliva next to him.

Another time my friend and I saw a man spit in the subway and then used the sole of his shoe to spread the spit around on the floor.

The government is desperately trying to tell people not to spit ahead of the Olympics.

In an article from the Xinhua News Agency, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Health is trying to create "No Spitting Day", following "Queuing Day" every 11th of the month and "Seat Offering Day" on the 22nd of every month.

However, not everyone is gungho about the idea.

Some people weighing in on Internet forums said they'd rather spit than swallow, or that it was "needless and unfeasible".

One of the capital's health officials, Liu Ying explained the reason was more for courtesy than health:

"We are calling for stopping the rampant spitting on the pavement, not urging everyone not to spit at all," she explained. "You can wrap your spit with a napkin and throw it into a trash bin," she added.

But people here hardly ever carry around tissues, and asking them to carry it around would be a financial burden for some, or just a drag for others.

The way to stop spitting, especially among young people is to shame them in a solid campaign.

I can see the ad now: Two women catch sight of this gorgeous man walking towards them. He sees them too and gives them a knowing look. As he approaches them, he horks a big one on the ground. The two women cringe and whine, "So not sexy!" and run away to the man's disappointment. The tagline: Spitting -- so not sexy.

As most of the men are the spitting offenders and many are trying to court women, men need to know spitting just ain't sexy. Women want class, not crass.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

it is variation of the same theme-education, education and education. posters, tv ads, school lectures, public health forum etc. are in order. i guess the government has been doing its part. if not should pump more money into this type of public campaign.

Anonymous said...

Wow! It sounds like an excellent ad! Both funny and memorable. And all men like to assume that they are attractive.

But aside from this "shame" campaign, I really think that a hefty fine imposed on these people would do wonders very quickly. But first warn people, on TV, radio and with posters. Tell them how big the fine is and warn that there will be no excpetions. If they ignore all that, then they deserve what they get.