Film ad provokes HK anti-smokers

The poster for a historical movie might breach smoking laws

A poster for a film about Coco Chanel that features the French fashion legend smoking a cigarette might break Hong Kong laws on tobacco advertising.

The advert for "Coco Before Chanel" shows the film's star Audrey Tautou in silk pyjamas with Chanel's trademark cigarette dangling from her fingers.

Although banned in Paris, France, it has appeared across Hong Kong.

But a campaign group, Clear the Air, alleges the poster breaks Hong Kong's increasingly strict anti-smoking laws.

Smoking airbrushed

James Middleton, chairman of the anti-tobacco committee for campaign group Clear the Air, said the poster breaks Hong Kong laws banning any mention of smoking or cigarettes in advertising.

"It is a direct breach of the law," he told reporters.

Earlier this year, the company that runs advertising on trains and buses in Paris pulled a similar poster over fears it could be prosecuted.

An advertisement for the film that appeared in the South China Morning Post newspaper had the cigarette airbrushed out.

The government says it is investigating.

Anti-smoking activist Annelise Connell, also from Clear the Air, told the South China Morning Post the ad was unacceptable.

"This poster... promotes the use of cigarettes to young people because it glorifies cigarette use by a young and famous woman."

The film, about the early life of fashion icon Coco Chanel, opened in the city on Thursday and the posters and ads have been on display since last week.

The Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance prohibits tobacco ads in print, public places or on the internet. It states that an advert is a tobacco ad if it illustrates or mentions smoking or cigarettes.

The Department of Health said it was looking into the case.