There used to be an unwritten law against showing women in advertisements for cigarettes. It was not until long after people got used to seeing them smoke in public that this taboo was lifted. I was the first to show women in liquor advertisements – 30 years after they started drinking in public. Not long ago, all Paris was agog over a series of posters which appeared on the hoardings. The first showed a nubile girl in a bikini, saying, ‘On September 2, I will take off the top.’ On September 2 a new poster appeared – she had taken off the top. This time she promised, ‘On September 4, I will take off the bottom’. All Paris was asking if she would also keep this promise. She did. Few Parisians were shocked. But I would not advise you to put up these posters in South Dakota. In Pakistan, an Islamic authority recently complained that ‘our women are being exploited and commercialized on television and in the newspapers. This goes against God’s will and violates the tradition of purdah dictated in the Koran.’ He proposed a ban on women appearing in advertisements. In Saudi Arabia it is illegal to use photographs of women in advertising, but OK to use drawings, provided you don’t show bare arms or cleavage. When a commercial for a soft drink showed a little girl licking her lips because she liked the taste, it was banned as obscene.