Noah’s piece about Colorado is spot on. Politicians really believe that we are stupid. They also pursue the same policies, regardless of whether they work or not, to achieve their goals. Having been born and raised in France, I feel compelled to point out that smokers there have been reading “Fumer tue” (“Smoking kills”) and looking at terrible images on cigarette packs for decades.
So, . . . has that worked? Perhaps for young smokers, but even that’s unclear. There are many things that older people used to do that younger people do much less now, and the reduction isn’t driven by warning labels. France still has one of the highest smoking rates in Western Europe — about 30 percent of adults smoke daily. This rate is notably higher than in many other developed countries. So, whatever the labels do, it isn’t great, and it likely doesn’t pass the cost–benefit analysis test (which I am sure is nonexistent).
This is true despite the fact that the harm from tobacco is well established and well known, even among smokers. I am unclear if the same applies to fossil fuels, but, unlike with smoking, the personal upsides of driving gasoline-powered vehicles vastly exceed the downsides for most people.
If Colorado’s legislators think that a sticker on the gas pump will end, or even reduce, fossil fuel use, they might want to take une grande bouffée of reality. But that may not matter if the whole exercise is about virtue-signaling.
Warning: Delusions may cause unintended side effects like smugness and higher prices.