Sadly though, it is during this period that people do things in excess, be it eating pineapple tarts by the boxful, guzzling beer all night long or going through an extra 10 sticks a day. All done in the name of celebration - 'just once a year la' being the common refrain.

Now should be the time to hammer home the message so that in their drunken excesses, potential drunk drivers will remember to put their keys away and hail a cab instead, and smokers will think of their lungs every time they take out a cigarette.

To ensure that people recall the message the Government is sending out, another approach may be needed. Currently, the tone of the message that the public has been receiving is a tad weak.

The images, based mainly on gruesome visuals of diseased body parts and victims of accidents, have desensitised us over time. We probably see more gore in one movie than in all the advertisements combined. This is especially true among youth with their violent computer games - what they see on the posters and cigarette boxes might be less realistic than what they see in their virtual world.

Statistics from the Singapore Police Force website show that the number of drink-driving accidents increased in 2006. The number of people killed in these accidents also increased by nearly 49 per cent.

According to the Health Promotion Board's website, only 'a quarter of smokers were motivated by the health warning labels to quit smoking' while '28 per cent of the smokers surveyed smoked fewer cigarettes because of the warnings'.

Time for a change in tactics perhaps? Shocking them did not really work all too well.

Maybe shaming them will do the trick. Post up pictures of all drunk drivers who get caught, 'Name 'em and shame 'em". That should do the trick.

Might I also suggest an idea for this year's anti-smoking campaign - my mother used to tell me: 'Winners never quit, and quitters never win'. Don't you just love to prove mum wrong?

Kyle Leslie Sim Siang Chun