American Legacy milks a dumb premise

While I generally appreciate the American Legacy Foundation’s efforts to remind us that smoking is unhealthy, I don’t enjoy being “squirted” by any substance. At any time. So please don’t send me a Legacy “Squirt Alert.” That’s what the group is calling the e-mails in its latest campaign. The messages are supposedly written in milk. The premise is a bit confusing, but Legacy appears to refute Big Tobacco’s claims that drinking enough milk can be more risky than inhaling second-hand smoke. That would probably depend on the sell-by date. Legacy used bovine imagery in 2005 to illustrate the link between chemicals in cigarettes and cow flatulence. So, are cows good or bad? Make up your mind, Legacy! Some nervy tobacco vendor could launch “Shotgun Blast” e-mails in response. (You know, that move where you blow smoke into another person’s mouth.) Of course, smoking can kill you, and so can shotguns, so maybe the concept would best suit a bogus cig-company site set up by Legacy itself. (Now that’s convoluted.) Photo by Kitty.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

June 8, 2007 | Permalink