The marketers at Yves Saint Laurent must have been hiding under a rock for the past two decades of advocacy towards the eradication of tobacco and cigarettes because their newest products, cigarettes, being marketed to the Asian and Russian markets, is an epic fail. Women, who already have a higher than normal brand awareness of the Yves Saint Laurent label, will be flocking to these cancer sticks purely for its aesthetics.
As Kerri Pieri of Stylecaster put it, “I am in no way here to promote smoking, but as an aesthetic person, you have got to appreciate how pretty these YSL cigarettes look. That black and gold, it’s like the Opium bottle in cancer-causing form.” It’s tempting to want to own these YSL cigarettes, which really do look appealing. The packaging says it all, LUXURY! Sure models and industry folks love their cigarettes, it is known to keep you skinny. Is it worth it? This new marketing ploy with a Kate Moss look-a-like puffing away at a ciggie from Yves Saint Laurent is distasteful and very irresponsible. Back to the drawing board people.