Some years ago the EU prevented tobbacco advertisers from claiming their cigarettes were “mild” or “low tar” but now it turns out that people are so stupid they even think fags in a light coloured pack are easier on the lungs than fags in a dark pack. You just can’t legislate away stupidity but I suppose in a few more years it will be illegal to sell cigarettes in white boxes. What a change from the heady days of widespread, well-informed, intelligent debate of fifty years ago! I found the following ad for cigarettes in a 1958 magazine. There are three line drawings and a fourth panel has a picture of the offending articles:
[Picture of couple in cinema. On screen a man is smoking a pipe]
“What a dreamboat! My ideal hero!”
[Girl is cold shouldering her date]
“What a date! I’m batting zero!”
[Couple strolls out of cinema, man with pipe, girl on his arm]
“Why you smoke a pipe too! Mm-mm! You’re for me!”