An “uproar” has broken out in France over an anti-smoking poster aimed at 13–15 year-olds. (Warning: Image may cause distress to men with filter-tipped penises.) Both pro-family groups (Familles de France) and feminists (Chiennes de Garde) are up in arms about it, but I’m waiting to see how well it plays once it’s on the billboard next to the mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois. I must say I find it hard to discern quite what message the geniuses behind the ad had in mind:
a) If you smoke, you won’t be able to be sexually exploited?
b) Men’s private parts are as bad for your health as a Gauloise?
c) Even French women can’t simultaneously smoke and perform oral sex?
At times like this, one turns to Kipling: A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.