Kick the Habit: 21 Day Stop Smoking Program

Using the "latest hypnotic technology"--which, apparently, combines the old your-eyelids-are-getting-heavy somnambulistic drone with unrelated footage of fish cavorting in the coral off the Fiji Islands--this self-hypnosis video not only purports to set puffers free within 21 days, it also promises that quitters "will not feel any discomfort." Richard L. Durschlag, writer and narrator, target's the viewer's (and, more importantly, listener's) subconscious with messages concerning the unhealthy aspect of smoking ("your body knows it's a poison"), the ease of just saying no to cigarettes, and a handful of suggestions regarding tapering off before one's quit date. Loosely based on the vastly superior American Cancer Society's Freshstart: 21 Days to Stop Smoking (VL-9/86), this overpriced, underwater excursion into becoming smoke-free is both unrealistic (as a former smoker myself, I harbor no illusions about the ease of quitting-it's hard) and questionable as to its effectiveness in the video format. Not recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)