Is it just me, or are the adverts for Twisp a little bit too close to those familiar tunes from the 80′s and 90′s? “Your international passport to smoking pleasure” and “the next best thing to another Lexington”…

As soon as I hear these ads I feel like reaching for a cigarette again. Which isn’t really the point. Or is it? Here’s a convoluted scenario, worthy of donning a tin-foil hat for. Cigarette companies can no longer advertise their goods. But they have this bank of music that is instantly recognisable and associated with their brand. So they create a product that mimics – but doesn’t replace – the smoking experience. And then they haul out their instantly recognisable music to market the new almost adequate replacement. Dormant addictions send ex-smokers in search of their old vice. Hah, now there’s a conspiracy theory movie waiting to be made!

Stuyvie, anyone?