Sunday, March 18, 2007

The Blues About Pink

In the musical Legally Blonde, which was playing in San Francisco for its pre-Broadway run, there is a crucial scene with the lead, Elle Woods, who has left Beverly Hills for Harvard Law in a quixotic play for an ex-boyfriend. She has withstood withering contempt from professors and students alike, who underestimate this blonde underachiever. She is about to head home when she has a change of heart. She is presented with a lawyer's navy blue suit and refuses it. Instead, she jumps into a closet and comes out, as it were, dressed head to toe in pink.

Pink has come a long way, baby. It used to be relegated to baby blankets. The pink craze hit and turned everything pink, from cell phones to cigarettes. What? Yes, Camel just introduced Camel No. 9 (sounds like Chanel No. 5, doesn't it?). It's a new cigarette that's igniting controversy, that comes in a Pepto pink package and looks more like bubblegum than a cancer stick. What's next, pink 40 ouncers of malt liquor? Pink pistols for your pink purse?

I love what Legally Blonde did for pink. It claimed it as the color of girl power. All Camel No. 9 does is put a pretty color on a bad habit. I hope women everywhere decide this is one accessory they can live without.

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