父亲戒烟不? Facebook替你决定

日前，歌手John Mellencamp14岁的儿子 Speck Mellencamp为使父亲戒烟，与其达成一项协议，如果有一百万的人加入其FACEBOOK网页，签名支持该做法的话。John Mellencamp将从此戒烟。目前，“战事”如何，我们拭目以待吧。

Quitting smoking is tough. People try gums, patches, acupuncture, psychotherapy. Fourteen-year-old Speck Mellencamp has turned to Facebook, not for himself - he doesn't smoke - but for his father, John Mellencamp, who's a longtime puffer.

Mr. Mellencamp, Sr. has said that if his son can get a million people to join his Facebook group, he'll quit.

Speck Mellencamp joins us now from the studios of member station WFIU in Bloomington, Indiana.

Mr. Mellencamp, thanks so much for being with us.

Mr. SPECK MELLENCAMP: Thank you for having me.

SIMON: How many people have signed up so far?

Mr. MELLENCAMP: About 200,000.

SIMON: Well, it's getting there, isn't it.

Mr. MELLENCAMP: Mm-hmm.

SIMON: What did your father say when you told him that you're going to do this?

Mr. MELLENCAMP: He didn't really think that it could ever get to that high of a number.

SIMON: As far as you know, has he ever tried to quit smoking?

Mr. MELLENCAMP: He's tried but he hasn't really been able to do it for more than a couple weeks.

SIMON: Do you think he'd like to quit smoking?

Mr. MELLENCAMP: I think he would like to but I just don't think he ever had the willpower to.

SIMON: If it happens, what can having a million people telling him to do that you and your family telling him can't accomplish?

Mr. MELLENCAMP: The peer pressure of just having it. And he says if a million people do that, then if somebody sees him doing it, then he'll seem like the bad guy so he kind of has to.

SIMON: Are people leaving comments on the Facebook page?

Mr. MELLENCAMP: Yeah. My favorite comments that I get are from other people saying that if it gets to a million that they would quit too.

SIMON: Oh, so this could set off something.

Mr. MELLENCAMP: Yeah. I've gotten lots of them. And I've also had lots of people tell me about stories of loved ones and friends that have died from lung cancer and smoking-related stuff.

SIMON: So is this something, may I ask, does your father check in on this every day?

Mr. MELLENCAMP: Yeah. He asks me how many people I'm up to about every day.

(Soundbite of laughter)

SIMON: What do you read in his face, his emotions? Is he beginning to think: Oh, no, this might work?

Mr. MELLENCAMP: I think he's really surprised because he told me he thought it was just going to be a couple of my friends who joined the group.

SIMON: So do you have a deadline, Mr. Mellencamp?

Mr. MELLENCAMP: No.

SIMON: So just whenever you reach a million, that's when it kicks in for your father?

Mr. MELLENCAMP: Yeah.

SIMON: So he's still smoking right now though.

Mr. MELLENCAMP: Yeah, but he's cut back a lot because it hit a hundred thousand.

(Soundbite of laughter)

SIMON: And are you ever tempted to look at him and say, Well, you enjoy it now because...

Mr. MELLENCAMP: Yeah, I actually have said that a couple of times.

(Soundbite of laughter)

SIMON: Mr. Mellencamp, nice talking to you. Good luck.

Mr. MELLENCAMP: Thank you.

SIMON: Speck Mellencamp, his Facebook group is called One Million to Join: My Dad, John Mellencamp, Will Quit Smoking.

(Soundbite of song, "Paper in Fire")

Mr. JOHN MELLENCAMP (Singer): (Singing) Paper and fire stinking up the ashtray. Paper and fire smoking up the alleyways. Who's to say the way a man should spend his days. Do you let him smolder like paper in fire?

SIMON: This NPR News.