John Champaico seemed to thrive in his new position as Regional Sales
Manager. He now had a 32nd floor corner office, at the Dynatech World
Headquarters building. Prominently displayed on his desk he kept a
picture of Maria and Liz, sharing a Keriokee microphone, taken that
memorable night at the Stonehearth Inn. Looking closely, her cigarette
case and ash tray are barely visible in the lower right hand corner of
the photo, a reminder to John of Maria’s belated metamorphosis that
evening. Maria was doing nicely in her own right, having been placed
on the corporate payroll as “Creative Consultant”, a position created
by Brock at Liz’s incessant urging, she now drew a nice monthly
retainer and had long since quit her mundane job at the attorney’s
office. She was not without credential, however, as she had studied
drama at NYU and received a BA degree in Journalism. John was pleased
that Maria had cultivated a “new” circle of friends, mostly Liz’s
friends actually, whom she entertained at weekly bridge parties and an
occasional pool party at their new beach front home. All were upper
crust, well healed, and educated; and all smokers of course. It was in
this capacity, as “Creative Consultant”, that Maria had flourished and
begun to make her mark, having dumbfounded the “so called” experts on
Madison Avenue with her “Real Life” brand of commercials. The latest
challenge was to promote Dente’blancha (White Teeth), a product
developed by Dynatech’s pharmaceutical division which promised to
whiten teeth tarnished from tea, coffee, or nicotine. Liz and Maria
reviewed the endless video tapes submitted by models’ agents until
one, imparticular, stuck out. It was Becky DuBois’s tape. All of the
tapes before contained beautiful, well proportioned, young ladies,
smiling fakely, telling about themselves and how they would like to
“Save the Spotted Owls” or the “Whales”, or the “Fly covered Children
of Ethiopia”… Maria took a long, hard drag, from her cigarette and
asked Liz dryly, as she exhaled, “do you know even one of these
endangered Whales, I mean personally? Have you ever even seen one of
these Spotted Owls? America hasn’t either, that’s my point!
‘Politically Correct’ is a has been, a clich. No one gives a $#@^$
about those mysterious Owls anymore. I know I don’t” Becky’s tape,
having a less professional polish, stood out mostly because of the
additional two minutes which recorded after Becky thought the shoot was
done. She impatiently asked the camera man “how’d I do this time,
Clyde?” as she commented under breath “..and what’s a Spotted Owl
anyway?”. The next seen, appearing rotated 180 degrees, as the camera
man had put the camcorder down at this point, shows Monica, Becky’s
mom, telling her daughter that she had done really great, as she kindly
offered her a cigarette and then nervously lit one for herself. Monica
took a long drag from her Salem 100 and told Liz, as she exhaled a
long, bluish stream of smoke, “THIS is the girl I want representing
Dente’blancha! Just look at that; “Real Life”; and after the shoot, her
mom offering her a cigarette. We’ve got to get these two in here right
away, they’re “Real Life” material if I ever saw it. Maybe her mom
could appear in the spot too, you know, a kind of ‘Mother Knows Best’
piece, offering her teen daughter a tube of Dente’blancha to whiten up
those ‘cigarette stained’ teeth!”. Liz nodded, respecting Maria’s past
intuitions, and sternly ordered the Administrative Assistant to pull
the file on ‘Maria and Becky DuBois’ and for her to make the necessary
airline reservations and whatever else arrangements to get them to New
York for a shoot. Monica crushed out her cigarette confidently, blowing
a long stream of bluish smoke. Then, lighting up another one, telling
Liz, “trust me on this one, this is the Real Thing.”. Liz, taking a
long, deep drag from her Benson & Hedges replied back, “Do you think
America is really ready for a 15 year old and her ‘has been’ mom
smoking on national TV hawking some kind of tooth whitener creme?”.
Maria smiled knowingly and replied “I think America has been ready for
a long time. You know the anti-smoking sentiment has swung full circle
now. I think this spot will rejuvenate the pro-smoking feelings we
shared as a nation a couple of decades ago, who knows…”. Maria
continued “..maybe Becky and Monica just might be the catalysts
everyone’s been waiting for!”. Liz nodded sternly at the Administrative
Assistant to make the arrangements. Whatever the consequences, the
DuBois’s and the Champaico’s would soon become intertwined in the high
stakes word of promotion and advertising.
The following morning Monica and Becky arrived at JFK and were
expeditiously limousine to the Dynatech World Headquarters building in
Manhattan. By 9:05 both sat in Maria DuBois’s waiting room waiting for
their appointment. Becky, feeling a little intim ated by the whole
experience, whispered to Monica, her mom, “..sure wish I could have a
cigarette about now..”. Monica smiled knowingly and replied “Your in
the Big Times now honey, don’t blow it”. Soon, Maria’s secretary told
them, “Ms. DuBoise will s you now, you may go in.”. As they entered Maria’s
plush office, the fragrant smell of cigarette smoke laid heavy in the air.
Maria introduced herself and explained “Welcome to the Big Apple, hope you
had a nice flight. Let me get right to the point. We elected you from
the demo tape your agent submitted to our firm and would like to know
if you would be interested in doing a commercial spot for one of our
pharmaceutical division’s products, Dente’Blancha?” Monica spoke up
hesitantly saying, “that’s why we’re here. Becky would love to have a
chance!”. Maria, now speaking in a more personal tone, spoke directly
to Becky this time. “The product we want you to promote is formulated
to remove tea, coffee, and bacco stains. The scenario we envision would
involve you smoking and your mother offering you the product to whiten
your teeth. We are talking about a nationally televised spot, carried
on all the major networks, in which you openly smoke, a definite ta o
in this industry, but at the same time, fitting nicely into Dynatech’s
REAL LIFE, cutting edge advertising. Are you still interested?”. Becky
thought for a moment, then reflexively reached in her purse and quickly
lit up a VS120 replying “you’ve got t be kidding, I would love to do
it, that is, if mom doesn’t have a problem…”. The tension in the room
seemed to melt away as Maria reached in her top drawer and took out an
ash tray and cigarette case and proceeded to light up a Salem 100.
Then, pushin the ash tray to the center of her large, oak desk,
commented “That’s what I hoped you’d say.” as she exhaled a long stream
of smoke into the air between Monica and Maria, then saying “I’ll need
to see some ID to establish that your 16, the legal age in ur state. I
checked with our legal department and they say the ad spot is not in
violation, since technically, we are not promoting smoking, but rather
a product for smokers.” Monica took her queue and eagerly lit up a
VS120 as well, telling Becky, “See honey, it’s like I told you, you
have nothing to worry about. Seems like everything has gone Right since
you started enjoying smoking. Mother knows best afterall, huh?”. Becky
ust smiled and took another deep, satisfying, drag from her cigarette.
Maria asked about the comment “..since Becky started smoking?”. Monica
responded rather sheepishly “..you see, Becky was a ‘Late Bloomer’,
she only started smoking a few months ago, at my urging, even though
most of her friends started to enjoy smoking round age 13. But since
she has started, a lot of positive changes have happened in our
lives.”. Maria thought about Monica’s statement for a moment and
realized that allot of positive things had happened in her life as well
since she began smoking. Her usband, John, seems to be “Turned On”
almost all the time now, and she dearly enjoys the weekly Bridge
parties with Liz and her friends, all of whom are smokers. Yes, Maria
knew full well what Monica was referring to, but did not dare reveal
what a “Lat Bloomer” she was herself. Maria handed Monica the script
and warmly suggested that they check into the Suit at the Waldorf and
begin practicing immediately. Becky, appearing very relaxed and mature,
taking a long draw on her VS120, assured Maria that sh had nothing to
worry about. Monica thanked Maria with a friendly hand shake as they
exited the office. This was the stuff dreams are made of, she thought.
After they had left, Maria called John and spoke excitedly about
Dynatech’s next REAL LIFE commerc l spot, with Becky and Monica playing
the real life roles. John agreed that it was about time for America to
“wake up” to the pleasures of smoking once again, and that Dynatech
should lead the way into the new era with their Real Life advertising.
“How d did you say she was?” John asked Maria again; “This is great, I
can’t wait to see it!”.
The next morning Monica and Becky arrived at the studio, having rehearsed
their roles until the wee
hours of the morning, ready to play their parts. Maria took personal
responsibility for the production
of her “real life” commercials and visited Monica and Becky for nearly an
hour before the shoot in
their dressing room, messaging their ego’s and plying them with several
Bloody Mary’s to loosen
them up. By the time the production manager called for them to come out,
the air in the dressing
room was thick with cigarette smoke, as the producer and her two budding
stars emerged. The
shoot called for three segments, to be aired in September through November
respectively. The first
called for Monica to enter her home and find Becky nervously cramming for
her math test which was
the following day, nervously eating junk food. In this spot, Monica
berates Becky for eating so much
junk food and asks why she is not chain smoking, the way she usually does
before a stressful test.
Becky frantically reaches for the cigarette which Monica is smoking, takes
a deep drag, and says,
“..because Mom, I also have that date with Steve Saturday night and I
don’t want my teeth
yellowed!”. Monica then conveniently pulls a box of Dente’Blancha from her
shopping bag and says
“Look at these pearly white teeth, and I smoke over a pack a day. Here
honey, try Dente’Blancha..
And light up, the test is tommorow you know!”. In the second commercial,
Becky is talking
confidently on the phone, while enjoying a cigarette, making final
arrangements with Steve for the
date. As the camera pans for a closeup, Becky takes a deep drag, exhales
slowly, then tells Steve, I
aced the math test, as she smiles, showing off her white teeth. The
implication is that because she
was no longer concearned about her yellow teeth, she could smoke and study
as always, thus acing
the test. The final spot has Steve dropping by to pick Becky up for the
date, politely lighting her
cigarette as they prepare to leave, and Monica, holding up a tube of
Dente’Blancha in the foreground
and saying into the camera “Hey mom’s. If your teen is worried about
tobacco stains, try
Dente’Blancha, we did.”, followed by a big wink as the teens depart.
The three commercials aired over the next three months and were an
immediate success as
Dente’Blancha sales soared through the roof. Each month left viewers
eagerly wondering what
would happen in the next installment. Apparently, the three part
commercial had struck a chord with
the American public. Smokers, and ex-smokers alike who had been brow
beaten into quitting,
responded in mass all applauding the honest, “real life” depiction of
Monica and Becky in the add
spots. The Dynatech mailroom hired several extra temps just to keep up
with the mail, mostly form
the moms of teens who could relate to the situation, and some from
mother’s whose teenage girls
had not yet started smoking, asking for Monica’s advice.
A grass roots movement sprung up across the nation, both by smokers who
were sick and tired of
being treated like second class citizens, and by ex-smokers who had denied
themselves the
enjoyment of smoking for too many years. Then, in December, the bombshell
dropped as
researchers from several well known and respected institutions announced
their undeniable findings:
Having noted that the incidence of cancer and respiratory disease among
smokers was much lower
in European countries, where 70% of the adult population smoke, they had,
for the first time, took
an objective look at the incidence of the same diseases in America. The
conclusion was that it was
the constant guilt, oppression, and socialy instituted fear that smokers
are constantly exposed to in
this country which has weakened their bodies natural defense mechanism and
caused their increased
susceptibility, and not the smoking itself. The president and first lady,
both smokers, pushed for and
got a constitutional amendment, passed overwhelmingly by both the House
and Senate, which forbid
any laws or taxes to be imposed which unfairly discriminate against a
smoker’s right to smoke. This
meant that all employers had to permit their workers to smoke whenever and
where ever they
wanted to, unless there were safety reasons not to. It also meant that the
price for a pack of
cigarettes went from $2.50 down to just $1.05 since no Federal, State, or
local government could
unfairly tax smokers any longer. And best of all, for Becky and her friend
Shelly, it meant a return to
cigarette advertising on television.
Maria, now senior vice president at Dynatech, was very pleased that her
“real life” commercial
trilogy had ignited such a frenzy, as the percentage of adult female
smokers in the country steadily
rose from 23% to just over 50% in only three years. Smoking was again
socially accepted, as all the
prime time sit-coms now featured leading characters who smoked and even
the nightly news anchors
smoked openly on the air. And Madison Avenue was eager to once again
promote smoking on
television, having been stifled for twenty years by the anti-smoking
fanactics who dominated the 80’s
and 90’s.. Becky, now a hot commodity, found herself turning down
lucrative add deals daily, as she
was heralded by a grateful nation as a kind of cult hero, having founded
the “Dente’Blancha
Generation” movement.
It was not until many years later that John and Maria and Monica and Becky
were all together again.
Sitting on the deck of Becky’s luxury yacht and reflecting back over the
years, Monica lit a VS120
then turned to Maria and asked “Do you think we really made a
difference?”. Maria lit up a cigarette
herself, took a long, pensive drag, and replied “Of course we did. Look
how much better the world
is now, how relaxed everyone is, how much more enjoyment there is. I think
we have all learned a
valuable lesson, never, never again shall we let a fanatical, left wing
narrow minded minority influence
the behavior of the masses. Smoking is back, just look at Becky, you must
be very proud of her.
She has changed the world forever.”
THE END
.