Madonna Staunton, Collage (1976)

In October 2024, the Australian Government proposed new regulations that would see all future cigarettes sold in Australia bearing a slogan imprinted on the butt. Smokers will kiss, inhale, and touch the words “toxic addiction,” “poison in every puff,” and “damages your lungs.” Even after the introduction of dun-coloured plain packaging, it is the cigarette’s branding and visual allure that is deemed culpable for smoking’s continual chokehold, above even the addictive properties of cigarettes themselves.