“Given the choice between a woman and a cigar, I will always choose the cigar.” – Groucho Marx
My friend Jean encountered this ad for JR Cigar at the bus stop the other day. She was offended, as every woman should be. This quote perpetuates the idea that men should think of women as dispensable possessions. That they are only “real men” if they don’t need/respect the women in their lives. In what could be seen as a challenge to their masculinity and independence, the ad practically shouts “Fellows! How many of you are man enough to say the same?”
This isn’t the only sexist thing that Marx ever said in relation to cigars (in another famous quote, a woman who told him that she had eleven children was given the response “Lady, I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while”) – but the fact that JR Cigar thought it was an appropriate quote to use in a public advertisement is just plain gross (not to mention very misogynistic).
I checked out JR Cigar’s Facebook page, and was unsurprised to find numerous pictures of “hot chicks” and celebrity women smoking cigars in sports cars, images that elicited hundreds of creepy and sexist comments from their middle-aged male patrons. I can only image how JR’s female customers feel about all this.
JR Cigar, I know you’re trying to run a business, but be more careful about what how you advertise. A true man respects women and doesn’t treat them like second class citizens. And he can still enjoy a good cigar if he so pleases.
Oh, and follow Jean on Twitter: @jxchung. While you’re at it, follow me too: @duckyfem (so far my following is abysmal, but I only started my account last week…I know, I know – so late for the Twit party).
I think if a person wants to be offended then he or she can take anything in a negative manner. This is a famous quote not putting down women but trying to explain how much he loves his cigar. We all know how crazy a man goes for a women and this is saying that his love for cigars goes even above that. If women would stop crying over things that aren’t sexist and use their voices for more substantial problems then maybe we would get further in changing the world. If you cry feminism over every ridiculous thing you make us all look bad. I’m a women and I’m offended by the lack of thought and uneducated assumption towards this entire post. Now I’m offended