Be informed

The ‘Don’t be a Maybe’ Marlboro campaign has taken a new direction presumably in response to the criticism it received with respect to glamorising the product (for and by young people). First they launch the bearded man (see post 1 December 2012) and now – in parallel – we have the defiant very old woman. She clearly has done something that makes her not a ‘Maybe’, though we have no idea what that was or might have been. Her defiant pose – fist raised – suggests even now she is not to be messed with. It is actually a great photograph, but I suspect not too many smokers of Marlboro get to her age.

By contrast, the Gauloises brand continues to lunch out on Paris. A couple of packets of cigarettes wander around Paris having a good time. Genius.