According to AP, an ad sponsored by the Association for Nonsmokers' Rights, features a teenage boy who could be construed to be performing oral sex on a man in a suit, except the teen has a cigarette in his mouth. A caption reads, "Smoking means being a slave to tobacco." There are two other ads in the same vein, one featuring an adolescent girl.

 

The leader of the organization behind the campaign acknowledged the ads were meant to shock and said such provocative campaigns were the only way to reach young people. Parola, the group's director insisted the ads — developed pro bono by the BDDP & Fils advertising agency — were not really about sex at all.

 

Family Minister Nadine Morano thinks otherwise. Speaking Wednesday on RMC radio, Morano added her voice to the growing chorus of those offended by the graphic ads. "I think this might constitute an affront on public decency, indecent exposure," she said, adding that she is looking into getting the ads banned. "There are other ways to explain to teenagers that cigarettes are addictive."

 

What do you think?