There always have been controversies over indirect tobacco advertisement (or call it indirect cigarette advertisement)and whether celebrities like Gerard Depardieu get paid by rich-multinational-companies-formed-advertising-body to spread the desired messages to the audience through smoking as part of his way of life. Where the international rules are strict and no broadcaster or publishers in any way are permitted to show cigarette advertising doing direct promotion, consumption or sale of cigarette, the creative ad gurus have found indirect way of promoting it to the world.
We can not call Gerard Depardieu’s act as a surrogate advertising because his one is not brand based (though I am sure his die hard fans know the brand of his choice) but it is positively a practice of openly advertising for a category in the exciting way because he is a true aspirational figure people can look up to, a kind of modern God factors work here, who placed on high platform to view by the individuals from afar.
Gerard Depardieu’s recent interview with BBC is also an occasion where the actor lit cigarette in between the interview and did not oblige the interviewer when he asked the actor to put the cigarette out as it was an unlawful act.
