Banning some tobacco brands because they are just too coo


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Smokers fume as France mulls ban on 'too cool' Gitanes and Gauloises

Tobacco firms demand clarification of new public health law that could see some brands outlawed for being too trendy

 
Serge Gainsbourg, a famous Gitanes smoker, with his wife Jane Birkin in 1977.
 Serge Gainsbourg, a famous Gitanes smoker, with his wife Jane Birkin in 1977. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Kim Willsher in Paris

Wednesday 20 July 2016 14.48 BSTLast The news was enough to have French smokers choking on their morning cigarette:France is considering banning some tobacco brands because they are just too cool

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Among those threatened are Gitanes and Gauloises, beloved of Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge Gainsbourg, who was said to puff through five packets of filterless Gitanes a day.

The ban, which could also cover the Lucky Strike, Marlboro Gold, Vogue and Fortuna brands, is the logical conclusion of a new public health law – based on a European directive – which stipulates tobacco products “must not include any element that contributes to the promotion of tobacco or give an erroneous impression of certain characteristics”.

Reporting the ban, Le Figaro said that while the directive was “relatively vague”, it clearly covered anything suggesting “masculinity or femininity, physical slimness, youth or sociability”.

Alarmed cigarette companies have written to the French prime minister, Manuel Valls, demanding a meeting “given the seriousness and urgency of the situation” and asking for clarification and the chance to appeal against any ban before the new health code article, currently being considered by the council of state, is published in 10 days’ time.

Gauloises and Gitanes cigarette packets.
 Gauloises and Gitanes have been part of the French identity since they were first introduced in 1910. Photograph: Sonny Meddle/Rex/Shutterstock

The tobacco firms say the health minister, Marisol Touraine, “appears to have an extremely wide interpretation of the rules” and accuse her of “arbitrary and disproportionate” application of EU directives.

“The lack of visibility in the measure’s content, the way it will work and when it will be applied, puts us in a legally uncertain position,” they wrote in their letter.

According to the ministry, the packaging of Gauloises and Gitanes – the latter features the figure of a woman dancing with a fan – represent “feminine icons”, while Vogue and News brands are “youth and social symbols”, and Lucky Strike, Fortuna and Marlboro Gold (previously Marlboro Light) suggest “luck and success”.

In May, France ordered all cigarette manufacturers to create neutral packaging. The bill means that from November, French shops can only sell the new packets that are of a uniform size and colour and have the brand name in a small uniform font.

The new packs are part of a hotly disputed health reform bill voted through by French MPs in 2014 which also tackles eating disorders, sunbed use and binge drinking.An attempt to scrap the neutral cigarette package clause failed by just two votes in November 2015.

Smoking is blamed for approximately 78,000 deaths a year in France, which has an estimated 13 million smokers – including about one-third of teenagers and a quarter of adults – according to the World Health Organisation. Existing EU laws mean tobacco firms must cover 65% of their packaging with health warnings. 

Gauloises and Gitanes cigarettes have been part of the French identity since 1910, when they were first produced. There was shock in France in 2014, when the national cigarette company Seita announced it was moving production of Gauloises to Poland. During both world wars, smoking Gauloises – whose packet featured an Asterix-style helmet with wings – was seen as an act of patriotism.

Le Figaro suggested any ban would simply give Gitanes and Gaulouises even more appeal as a “forbidden fruit”.

 
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When I was a student, smoking a Gauloise or a Gitane was the ultimate in cool. In my first year in college, we could still smoke in the lecture theatres, so we all did.

Students smoked everything they could get their hands on. Nothing better than seeing an 18 year old fill a pipe during a lecture! :)

Ah, the good old days.

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I despise cigarettes and quit smoking them years ago, but I can certainly appreciate the notion that Gauloises are cool.  Spent some time in France and Germany as an 18 year old, and got caught up in the romance.  I remember when they first started showing up at smoke shops near me.  It was a way to relive those days in Europe, while also giving off an air of unmistakable sophistication.  Thankfully I grew out of that pretty quickly.  God I was the worst.  

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Banning cigs for reasons of coolness (how to "measure" that?!!) or "notion" is plain ridiculous. As soon as a brand becomes "cool" it has to fear beeing sacked, or how do we have to imagine that? I bet any money that such won't hold any legal consideration. Like cigs or not, just another case of extreme administrative overreach.

Politics need to finally decide, and not be permanently hypocrite: Tobacco i s  n o t  forbidden. So either don't treat it like that, or ban it altogether. But if you do, that will cause a flood of other products that will inevitably have to follow in its wake.

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