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News & ArtsThursday, February 25, 2010
Health / Death / Sex New French Anti-Smoking Campaign
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 10:00 AM
The copy on all three ads reads, "Smoking means being a slave to tobacco.” The campaign—which features two boys and a girl—equates smoking with sucking off creepy old men, i.e. the cigarette company suits enriched by young smokers. Some folks think the ads are sexist (despite the two-boys-to-one-girl ratio), you could argue that they're homophobic (because what could be worse than giving head to a dude?), some think the campaign glamorizes underage sex, and some think the campaign unfairly stigmatizes oral sex.
"The message here is that tobacco is a form of submission," said a spokesperson for the agency that created the campaign. "In the popular imagination, oral sex is the perfect symbol of submission."
But someone needs to let the French know that The Onion beat them to it...
1
Dlisted runs a "Caption This" contest daily.
"I have to do whaat to get a light from you?"
"I don't look particularly unhappy about this, do I?"
"Smoking: makes you lovely, caucasian and young, with cute hair, bruisey knees and no gag reflex."
"I have to do whaat to get a light from you?"
"I don't look particularly unhappy about this, do I?"
"Smoking: makes you lovely, caucasian and young, with cute hair, bruisey knees and no gag reflex."
2
of course the onion beat them to it.... they are on the ball. they were the first to break this story:
"Latest Sarah Palin Speech Opens Sixth Seal"
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/lat…
"Latest Sarah Palin Speech Opens Sixth Seal"
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/lat…
4
Why do blow jobs get such a bad rap? We need to put an end to this anti-blow job propaganda. Everybody loves getting head, why paint it in a negative light?
5
unrelated to the excellent main topic here, but don't the two kids on the right look nigh identical? ..fraternal twins? ..photoshop?
6
@4
Because lots of straight guys turn it into a degrading experience for young straight women. Like one step up from being peed on. Takes years for many women to discover the joys of a giving a BJ post-teenage years.
Because lots of straight guys turn it into a degrading experience for young straight women. Like one step up from being peed on. Takes years for many women to discover the joys of a giving a BJ post-teenage years.
7
Newer French anti-smoking campaign: "Wear deodorant. Then the smell of smoke will be obnoxious, instead of a blessing."
11
@6
I'm w/ you on that 100%. Boys still have to work through their madonna/whore complex. That's why oral sex should be a privilege, not a right. You'd apply for a license, just like driving a car.
Working for the DOL becomes a whole lot more interesting....
I'm w/ you on that 100%. Boys still have to work through their madonna/whore complex. That's why oral sex should be a privilege, not a right. You'd apply for a license, just like driving a car.
Working for the DOL becomes a whole lot more interesting....
12
whats next? blowjobs only 25 feet away from windows, doors and air ducts? no blowjobs in city parks?
it's like a stale "in soviet russia" joke... c'mon France your Emperor Napoleon guy really showed those ruskies,
don't. be. like. them.
Viva la Blowjobs!!!
it's like a stale "in soviet russia" joke... c'mon France your Emperor Napoleon guy really showed those ruskies,
don't. be. like. them.
Viva la Blowjobs!!!
13
You're the only link I've seen that shows both the boy pics and the girl pic. To find the guy pics, you pretty much have to go to the ad company's website. That's homophobia...even when complaining about the ad, they wouldn't dare show simulated gay smoking fellatio.
14
It's not the blowjob angle; it's the idea that you're blowing some septuagenarian billionaire that's the point.
These ads are simply fantastic. They get the point across mor effectively than any other youth anti-smoking campaign I have ever seen.
These ads are simply fantastic. They get the point across mor effectively than any other youth anti-smoking campaign I have ever seen.
15
These ads turn me on, and I don't even like smoking. I just like blowjobs (giving or receiving).
Fail.
Fail.
16
Interesting to note that for the boys, the men are just wearing sportcoats, while for the girl, the man is coatless and has a noticeable gut. It's as if simply being male was reason enough for it to be bad for the boys, but for the girl, the man had to seem more unattractive.
Also, I'm not sure this is the best campaign, even if we ignore the issues of sexual orientation. I mean, suppose it showed a man in a suit having them on a leash wearing leather bondage gear, smoking a cigarette. Sure, a lot of people would be turned off. But some people would be like "HOT DAMN, I gotta get me some smokes!"
Meanwhile, some boys and girls will now associate sucking some older man's cock with smoking cigarettes. Which works if you think sucking older men's cocks is a bad thing... but not everyone does.
Won't somebody think of the children with a thing for older men?!
Also, I'm not sure this is the best campaign, even if we ignore the issues of sexual orientation. I mean, suppose it showed a man in a suit having them on a leash wearing leather bondage gear, smoking a cigarette. Sure, a lot of people would be turned off. But some people would be like "HOT DAMN, I gotta get me some smokes!"
Meanwhile, some boys and girls will now associate sucking some older man's cock with smoking cigarettes. Which works if you think sucking older men's cocks is a bad thing... but not everyone does.
Won't somebody think of the children with a thing for older men?!
17
yeah, what about the people who find BJ's hot? Then again, nothing new. I read it somewhere that when Oscar Wilde spoke about smoking, what he really was referring to was oral sex.
18
I can't find a copy of it online, but a friend of mine in New Zealand sent me a photo of one of their ads, a cigarette with a long droopy ash and Smoking Causes Impotence on the package. That seems much more effective than Smoking Equals Blowjobs.
19
Hmm. I don't know what to think of this campaign. It would seem to target those young people who are most homo-averse, i.e. most guys. However, where I live the majority of smokers - of all ages - are young women. Will this scare them straight?
20
Pretty standard feminism 101 analysis applies here, penis=power,hence sucking dick =submission, hence homosexuals=female=powerless.
They could have done a better job. The fact that there is guy girl parity giving head doesn't make it un-sexist; that would require guy-girl parity getting head as well.
This is more of the same old shit.
They could have done a better job. The fact that there is guy girl parity giving head doesn't make it un-sexist; that would require guy-girl parity getting head as well.
This is more of the same old shit.
21
Geni @18: I've seen that ad too, and it's a hoot. Only problem is, when you run ads that are just simply lies, nobody takes a word you say seriously afterwards. Didn't they learn anything from the "war on drugs? (Smoker for 40+ years here, and definitely not impotent.)
22
Well it would be a turn off for any young woman who learned about blow jobs from mainstream porn. Which is where teenagers learn about blow jobs. Which is why they (and some older people too) associate blow jobs with degradation and submission.
23
are you KIDDING? no one has said that this promotes bad ideas about homosexuality, hate mongering, so on and so forth? I can't believe this as I was watching the video by the Onion I was thinking surely this is a joke....
24
What I get from the ad is just that it's degrading to be 'forced into' smoking off the corporate guy. Might turn some BDSMers onto smoking though... haha
25
And the 10th mention of "small town folk" brought forth a great belching chasm of death and dust.
Thank you! Made my day.
Thank you! Made my day.
26
(this will get me blasted for sure)
I love the French. No holds barred, no fucking around, draw your own conclusions. Brilliant.
If any agency in this country had made that ad, imagine all of the subsets and groups that would be pissed. Too gay, not gay enough, objectifying young women, objectifying young men, objectifying old men, no lesbian overtone, no portrayal of minorities, all felatio and no cunnilingus (I think that's called a 68) on and on and on.
I love the French. No holds barred, no fucking around, draw your own conclusions. Brilliant.
If any agency in this country had made that ad, imagine all of the subsets and groups that would be pissed. Too gay, not gay enough, objectifying young women, objectifying young men, objectifying old men, no lesbian overtone, no portrayal of minorities, all felatio and no cunnilingus (I think that's called a 68) on and on and on.
27
@20 - Exactly. This business of oral sex being the "perfect symbol of submission" really only applies culturally to fellatio. That's a goddamned misogynist double standard and on top of that, it makes very little sense to me; I've never felt the slightest bit submissive when I'm giving head.
28
In French "une pipe" can mean either a pipe, or a blow job, so the ad people are trying to be clever with wordplay here.
29
@28 - Yeah, but in French, everything has a sexual double meaning, so it's really not that clever.
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