Mad Meh

How is it that cigarette ads look both dated and timeness - as if they fell out of line with rest pop culture 40 years ago and have been left to their own devices ever since? The font that spells out "pleasure" in this ad feels very 'seventies to me, as do the repeated horizontal lines on the cigarette package; they must pick up on some reference to Minimalism, many times removed. I like to think that these are attempts to evoke some kind of "pleasure" that is a bit too seedy for modern tastes - that retains the smoked and oversmoked pungency of so many motel room curtains. The lurid orange and green colors certainly contribute to this - and when do we ever see a color combination like that anyway - except on ads for casinos or lottery tickets? This ad doesn't make me want to smoke, although it does make me long for the nostalgia that apparently goes along with it.