French shocked by advert

Cigarette advertising is banned in France

By James Coomarasamy Paris Correspondent

Mystery advertisements on French television and in national newspapers put consumers in a panic.

The ads stated: "Traces of hydrocyanic acid, mercury, acetone and ammonia have been found in a widely consumed product."

A special free helpline would give concerned consumers more information, said the ad.

Not surprisingly the line was bombarded by calls from people fearing that this could be the food scare to end all food scares.

Hard-edged ads

Only after phoning the telephone number did people discover the identity of the mysterious product - cigarettes.

The advertising campaign is part of a $4.4m campaign launched by two state-run agencies, the national health insurance system and the Institute for Health Awareness and Prevention (Inpes).

And it is typical of France's new brand of harder-edged public information campaign, used to tackle persistent problems such as drink driving, as well as to encourage fewer people to smoke.

Previous anti-smoking measures here, such as a theoretical requirement for all French restaurants to have no-smoking areas, have had little impact in a country where Gauloises and Gitanes cigarettes are part of the national heritage.