Sexy Smoke?

     There's no doubt that sex sells.  Pick up any fashion magazine and you will find loads of advertisement filled with sex laced themes.   

     TV ads are not much different either.  Now a days, most people have cable or satellite service with the advantage of being able to pause the show for several minutes, then fast forward through all the commercials.  We do that a lot, but let a Victoria Secrets commercial come on and the fast forward comes to a fast stop.  I'm glad there isn't a slow motion feature.  Then again, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't stop it for an Adam Levine commercial.

     Then there is this twerking thing.  It's supposed to be a dance move and made quite a stir recently on an awards show.  I didn't watch it, so I wasn't sure exactly what it was.  I tapped the letters into my dictionary app, nope, wasn't there either.  Finally I Googled it and here is the definition in my own words:  "making the buttocks wobble and shake".  Good grief, I think I do that just walking, so I don't believe I will try it on the dance floor anytime soon.  I danced up a storm on Thanksgiving Eve and my knee still hurts, if I tried to twerk I'd probably break a hip.

     I never buy fashion magazines and the only place I get to see them is usually in the doctor's office.  I try not to go there often but when I do, that is where I can catch up on the latest fad.   Since most of the magazines are several months old when I view them, I'm still behind the times and lacking in my fashion prowess.  

     Recently I was in the doctors office.  I always want to write on the form where it says, 'reason for your visit', "Oh, I didn't have anything better to do.", but I refrained, filled it out and picked up a dated fashion magazine.  I discovered there were more ads than actual articles, so I just flipped through the pages.  There were ads for sexy cologne, sexy jeans, sexy underwear, sexy makeup and even sexy toothpaste.  That was funny, I don't think I've ever thought watching someone brush their teeth was a sexy move, gross would be a better depiction.

    As I thumbed through the pages, I came across an ad that really shocked me.  We tend to get a little desensitized when we are exposed to something, like half naked bodies, after a period of time. I always try to remind myself that, I too, could look like that with the help of an airbrush expert and an old fashion rack of torture to make my legs longer, but it wasn't the scantily clad model that left me with my jaw dropped.  It was the product.  It was a cigarette ad.

     Growing up in an era that saw the cigarette ads on TV, to them being totally removed, I was stunned by the ad.  Sexy smoke?  I beg to differ.  

      I think the thing that surprised me the most was why a fashion magazine, that usually throws in a health based article now and then, would even consider placing a cigarette ad in their publication.  I guess that would be because money talks and sex sells, but there is nothing sexy about smoking.

     Smoking is one of the worst habits a person could ever start.  Not only is smoking bad for your health, it's expensive.  Cigarette smoke clinging to your clothes or in your hair is totally not sexy.  If you smoke in your house, the smoke gets on everything and it stinks.  Yes, in the long ago days of cigarette commercials on TV, they were touted as the "cool" thing to do.  Then as people began to experience the unfortunate side effects of years of smoking, the ads went away in hopes of future generations not choosing to smoke. The magazine I was looking at is geared to a much younger generation than myself, so the hype that smoking is the "in" thing to do is still there and my thought was "shame on you, editor".

     Smoking is not just bad for you, it's addictive and it's hard to quit.  I know first hand, because I smoke.  I quit for over eleven years, but a 'just one puff' is like 'just one drink' to an alcoholic and that is all it took to get me started again.  I know, I must have suffered some kind of brain damage, but if you smoke or have quit, you know what I'm talking about, and I'm not making excuses.  

     No, there is nothing sexy about smoking.  Since a new year is fast approaching perhaps I will try again to give them up.  Maybe I could try twerking every time the urge hits me to smoke.  Ending up in traction doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but neither does dragging an oxygen tank around with me....now wouldn't THAT be sexy.