Paris, city of lights and lighting up, has done the unthinkable. They’ve banned the new poster ads for Coco avant Chanel, starring Audrey Tautou as the famous fashion designer. The reason? In the posters, Audrey (as Coco) is smoking a cigarette. Coco was a famous smoker, as photo evidence of the designer proves. She was also probably one of the most famous residents of Paris in the history of the city.

Paris’s ban on smoking in public areas took affect the beginning of this year, and by many accounts, the ban has been pretty successful. While I think it’s a good idea to ban smoking in public areas, I draw the line at two things - bars and images of smokers. People in bars should be able to light up, in my humble opinion. And no one should be afraid of images of someone smoking, especially not an actress portraying one of the most famous Parisians ever.

The city of Paris has banned posters of the actress Audrey Tautou in her new role as Coco Chanel because she is holding a cigarette.

The transport authority’s decision to remove the posters because they were “unhealthy and inappropriate” was condemned as “ridiculous” by Chanel fans and even by the man who drew up France’s draconian anti-smoking laws.

The posters show Tautou as the chain-smoking French creator of the little black dress, gazing sensuously at the camera in silk pyjamas, with a cigarette smouldering in her right hand.

Chanel was 87 when she died in 1971, despite smoking several packets of cigarettes a day for most of her life. It is rare to find photos or her without a cigarette. However, Metrobus, the company which runs advertising on Paris’ buses and trains, said that the law came before historical accuracy.

“Cigarettes are banned on our entire transport system, and there is no reason why we should be giving them free advertising through this film poster,” a spokesman said.

The film’s producers were obliged to provide an alternative poster showing Tautou with the male lead. But a representative of Warner France said that “for us, the real poster is where Coco Chanel is smoking in a natural pose that translates her strong personality and her modernity”.

The ban comes days after a poster of Jacques Tati, one of France’s most enduring comic characters, was altered to conform to French rules prohibiting the “direct or indirect” promotion of tobacco products. The actor-director’s trademark pipe was replaced with a yellow windmill – a move which one cinema expert said would have made him “die laughing”.

Roselyne Bachelot, the health minister, admitted that the rules were being taken too far. “We’re getting pretty ridiculous with this,” she said.

Even Claude Evin, the politician behind a 1991 anti-smoking law, said the ban should not extend to “cultural heritage”. There is already concern that another film due out later this year about Serge Gainsbourg, the Gauloise-puffing crooner, will fall foul of the no smoking rules. One of his songs is entitled God smokes Havana cigars.

Coco Before Chanel, the new film starring Tatou, opened in France this week to wide critical acclaim. It focuses on the early years of Gabrielle Chanel, nicknamed “Coco” during her failed attempt to launch a singing career. The film sees her move from poverty-stricken orphan to early catwalk success, but stops short of her controversial affair with a Nazi officer at Paris’s Ritz hotel during the Occupation.

[From The Telegraph]

Usually, when I hear people talking about “the nanny state”, I roll my eyes. But this is the one exception. I’m all for the anti-smoking movement, but they can’t control everything! In America, there’s already a movement to edit out smoking in movies being shown on television. And there’s absolutely no smoking in network television. There’s barely any smoking in cable television, either - with one notable exception: Mad Men. Set in the 1960s, when everyone smoked. Can’t the anti-smoking zealots just leave the art alone? Or is the next step banning all images of liquor from art, television, films, and ads, all for the sake of the recovering alcoholics and would-be alcoholics?

Here are some stills from the film. Images thanks to awardsdaily.com.