Have you noticed how harsh your local state or city's anti-smoking PSAs are getting? I guess it's not enough that states like New York and New Jersey ban smoking in public places, they have to freak people out, too. Hence the new set of ads from New York City's Health Department. They feature Rolando Martinez, a 53-year-old man and former smoker who lost his larynx at 39 because of his habit. He now breathes through a hole in his throat; one ad shows him cleaning the hole with a cotton swab. In the second ad, Martinez laments the fact that he can't practice one of his loves, swimming, ever again. In both ads, Martinez speaks through a voice synthesizer he presses against his throat. It's very hard to watch.

But, it seems like it's working. According to this New York Daily News article, the number of calls the NYC health department has gotten from people looking to quit has tripled since the PSAs featuring Martinez, who also did PSAs for the Massachusetts Health Department in 2000, started airing earlier this year. So, they may be sad and hard to watch, but they're doing their job.