Keep Your Smoke to Yourself, S'il Vous Plait

The French National Committee Against Tobacco Addiction is launching an edgy new campaign based on previous ones against AIDS/HIV, "except that there is no mention of condoms, but of cigarette butts and the 'toxic emanations of cigarettes' remaining several hours after smokers have left." The film for the campaign was conceived of pro bono by the Compagnie 360 Euro RSCG ad agency. It shows an amorous couple in a Paris dance club. A voice-over intones, "Caroline doesn't know that she is in the process of contracting a deadly disease ... because every day here she absorbs toxic substances left by the smoking of cigarettes, which stay for several hours after ... " The target of the film is second-hand, or passive, smoking. The public service announcement will show on television in conjunction with the January 1, 2008 start of a smoking ban in French dining establishments and leisure and entertainment venues.