Candy Cigarettes
How many of you remember candy cigarettes? This was a popular candy when I was a kid. I am in my 60s and grew up when cigarette smoking was a common habit practiced by the majority of adults, and at that time candy cigarettes were available for the little kiddies. As a kid, my parents used to buy them for me from the local grocery store. They were right there in the candy section. They came in a cute little cigarette box, just like the ones my parents used for real cigarettes. They even had a little dab of red dye on the end to simulate the lit end of the cigarette. They were an amusing little candy that some of the older readers might remember. When adults gathered at parties and were smoking real cigarettes, I and my little kid friends would pretend to smoke candy cigarettes, to act just like the adults. Ahh, the nostalgia, it takes me back to the happy times of my youth.
I am sure that some parents are recoiling in horror at the thought of such a thing! Candy cigarettes, what a terrible idea! For modern non-smoking adults, there is probably a jumble of thoughts and emotions swirling in their heads, simultaneously all trying to come out at the same time. Thoughts like “this candy was just an attempt to brainwash the kids into smoking real cigarettes”! Or maybe, “How could parents expose their kids to such a thing, they must be bad parents”! Or perhaps, “I cannot believe that such a thing was allowed, didn’t society recognize the hazards of smoking”!
Yes, today we all know that cigarettes are unhealthy, and the majority of the adult population no longer smokes real cigarettes. Those that do are treated like outcasts. Smoking is so socially unacceptable that if someone attempted to pass out candy cigarettes to small children in Homer, I am sure the police would be called to have them arrested. People would consider this outrageous and there would be angry posts on Facebook. People would demand that the city council pass a law prohibiting the distribution of candy cigarettes to any child within the city limits. The indignation would be overwhelming. There would be a huge public outcry, “We Must Protect the Children”!
I have just one question. Why don’t the liberals in Homer have the same response on the first day of gay pride month, when shows on TV, and stores like Target will indoctrinate their children into alternate sexual identities for the next 30 days? Is this any healthier for kids than candy cigarettes?