I don't know how many of you are old enough to remember when television actually ran advertising for cigarettes.  You've probably seen some of the old ads on YouTube.  If you haven't here are some pointers to some, so you young whipper-snappers can get an idea of what they were like:*




So - Why do I say bring them back?

Because the other side is getting airtime.  You can't watch a day's television without seeing one of those "Truth.com" ads.

Now, let's be clear on my position and opinions:

• Smoking is stupid.
• I don't encourage smoking.  [Full Disclosure Notice:  I'm a cigar smoker.]
• The Truth.Com ads can be VERY clever

But its an issue of basic fairness under the law - that pesky old "Equal Protection" thingy in that pesky old "Constitution" thingy.

One side is being allowed to get ITS message out through the most effective means of communication and behavior modification ever devised (short of snausages, but that's another subject).  So why the HELL is the other side silenced about a LEGAL product?  It would be different if we were talking about advocating robbery or advertising stolen merchandise.

But we're not.  We're talking about convincing people that they either should or shouldn't kill themselves slowly with a legal poison.  And for my money, anyone who can be convinced to poison themself, and to PAY for the privilege should have every opportunity to do so.  It's been so long since the phrase entered our language that I fear most people don't even remember where it came from, but...  

    if you're gonna drink the Kool-Aid...


(*Strangely enough, BTW, I didn't find a good copy of any of the old Marlboro Man commercials.  I wonder why?)

Oh, by the way, and just for fun - here's one more ad that kind of follows on that Lark ad linked above...