I’ve been waiting with baited breath to see how the German cigarette companies would deal with the smoking ban in bars. Trust my favourite brand (NO, I don’t smoke) to strike the right chord. Here’s how they dealt with it in Baden-Württemberg, which implemented the ban last year.

Mocking the powers that be

Rather than go more abstract (than they already are!) they met the problem head-on, with humour. “Rauchverbot? Da kommt man wenigstens mal raus.” (Smoking ban? At least people will get out a bit now).

But they could have gone further, and I think it’s a shame they didn’t. They don’t normally hold back.

How about “Rauchverbot? Da kommt man wenigstens an die frische Luft.”(Smoking ban? At least now we’ll get some fresh air). Or perhaps that’s just a tad too cheeky when everyone’s so tetchy about smoking right now.