French Cigarettes Really Are Different Than American Brands

The Times reports on a controversial anti-smoking ad in France aimed at young people.

The slogan is bland enough: “To smoke is to be a slave to tobacco.” But it accompanies photos of an older man, his torso seen from the side, pushing down on the head of a teenaged girl with a cigarette in her mouth. Her eyes are at belt level, glancing upwards fearfully. The cigarette appears to emerge from the dress trousers of the adult.

There are two other ads showing young men in the same position, though in those cases the adult is wearing a suit jacket and a watch.

The paper notes that the campaign’s critics contend that it “creates a false analogy between oral sex and smoking,” which is absolutely right: You smoke the cigarette AFTER the blowjob. French people KNOW THIS. [Via]