Maxime Meiland is paid a lot to be the poster child for the anti-smoking campaign Stoptober. “How do I notice that I have stopped smoking? Especially in my wallet!”
Every year, three other celebrities take up the challenge during Stoptober, the annual campaign to get people to quit cigarettes. This year they are Sergio Yvent, Herman Brusselmans and Maxime Meiland. It is especially a challenge for Maxime, because she comes from an environment in which smoking and drinking are heavily normalized.
Gas station
How is she liking it so far? “I wish I had never done it. It disappoints me, I must say. I went into it with great courage, but in the morning, especially during coffee time… I was also thinking: shouldn’t I just walk to the gas station? And then I thought: no, I shouldn’t do that!”, she says Radio 538.
Does it make her grumpy? “No, not that. Well, that’s what I say, but maybe Leroy will say: well, you’re really not one to enjoy yourself.”
Hungry? “Well, no, not that. You hear that very often, but I don’t want that at all. I’ll pay attention to that.”
Wallet
So far Maxime does not feel any fitter. “I only notice it in my wallet.”
Ah, how much of a shift is that, a campaign like that? “I will receive compensation, yes. That’s right. See, because you get compensation for it, you also have a stick behind the door, so it helps in that sense. That you really think: I can’t afford to start smoking again after a week.”
538 sidekick Rick Romijn: “Well, you say that, but Jan Slagter was also a poster boy for that campaign and he smokes again, but he did receive compensation! I don’t think it lasted even a day.”
Maxime: “Yes, I don’t think that’s possible.”
“How much do you get?”
Rick: “How much is that compensation?”
Maxime: “No, I’m not going to say that. I can’t say that at all. No.”
Tim Klijn: “But how many cigarettes could you buy?”
Maxime: “Hahahahaha.”
Sidekick Niels van Baarlen: “But I do think that if you light a cigarette butt on October 23, they will say: dude, Maxime, thank you, see you here and greetings.”
Maxime: “Yes, well, I find that strange too. Actually, they should do it in stages, so to speak, that compensation, because otherwise… If you start smoking again the next day, you have already received it, but morally speaking I don’t think it is possible, no.”
“Don’t hear anyone talk about it!”
According to RTV Utrecht you can question the effectiveness of a campaign like Stoptober. What does Maxime think about that? “Well, the funny thing is: I don’t hear anyone talking about it. I have to do it all on my own. No really.”
Her mother Erica is especially pro-smoking. “Then my mother blows in my face and she says: ‘You’re so uncomfortable.’ Hahahaha. They don’t like it at all. When I turned 16, the flag was raised, because then I was allowed to drink and it’s the same with smoking. They find that so much fun. If I stop then they think: nooooo…”
Charity
Rick then puts Maxime on the spot. “Maxime, can we agree that when you do start smoking, you will transfer your compensation to charity? No, I really mean that!”
Maxime: “Yes, actually I should do that, right?”
Tim: “Yes, I think so.”
Maxime: “Yes, that is true. Let’s agree on that, that’s good.”
Tim: “Maxime also thinks: if I stop smoking, then the chimney must be smoking!”