Advertisement

YSL launching cigarettes in Asia

French fashion house YSL is launching it`s own line of designer cigarettes. The label is planning on promoting it in Asia.

London: French fashion house YSL is launching it`s own line of designer cigarettes and given the ban on tobacco advertising in the US and Europe, the label is planning on promoting it in the other big market, Asia.
The cigarettes, which come in a sleek black box with gold foil, are being marketed towards women in Asia and Russia. They are accompanied by an advertisement featuring a model that looks uncannily like Kate Moss, who came under fierce criticism when she smoked on the Louis Vuitton catwalk earlier this year, reported Daily Mail online. The cigarettes retail for up to USD 44 per pack and it`s advertisement tells prospective buyers that it will give them "a classic sophisticated look". Governments in countries like the UK and the US, invest heavily in anti-smoking messages in order to help prevent the huge number of deaths each year caused by tobacco. But in Russia and many parts of Asia there are no stringent rules in place to prevent glamorous brands like YSL from promoting tobacco consumption. The brand is named after it`s creator Yves Saint Laurent, who died in 2008 and famously named a 1966 tuxedo for women, Le Smoking. YSL follows in the footsteps of Cartier and Pierre Cardin, which have also given tobacco firms permission to use their logo. PTI