Ok…
A few months ago, I was looking at a pack of Marlboros. I noticed that in the small type on the little coat of arms, there was the inscription “Veni, Vidi, Vici.”
My response to that was… What the F…?
I came, I saw, I conquered. Ok… seems like Philip Morris has crossed the Rubicon and my lungs, apparently are playing the role of Pompey the Great.
Still, for a while, I passed this off as a strange quirk of the moment for some ad executive somewhere in the primordial days of the tobacco giants.
Then, I happened to see a pack of the “new” set of filtered products by Pall Mall. These are not a Philip Morris product, but one by Brown & Williamson. This pack of cigarettes featured, much more prominantly, a coat of arms. It, too, has a Latin motto. The one chosen was “In hoc signo vinces.” Yes… by this sign, you will conquer. That would make Philip Morris Caesar and Brown & Williamson would be Constantine the Great.
Anyway… I have no point to make with this because I just think it is freakin odd. I’m waiting for a cigarette to have the guts to espouse the Addams Family motto, “Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectos Nunc.” That would be both honest and entirely American in spirit.