Britney Spears was once busily cultivating her public image. Singing in her church’s choir, Britney Spears’ voice soon became known far and wide and with much encouragement she went after a performing career at the ripe old age of eight. Over the next four years she had a stint in the theater, on Star Search and also became a Mouseketeer with the Mickey Mouse Club. After that exposure to show business, Britney Spears soon opted for a singing career and became a hot teen property on the music market. While in the past Britney Spears actively cultivated the wholesome girl next door image – she claimed to be against drugs, smoking, drinking, and teen sex – by the time her first album hit the charts, it appears that Britney Spears had realized that sex sells and her double entendre lyrics as well as her racy dress code soon belied any claims of her Mouseketeer philosophy.

Thus, in the wake of her highly publicized mismatch with another artist, her bout with drugs, and of course her questionable parenting skills, Britney Spears’ smoking does not appear to be a big deal, yet in a day and age where the anti smoking campaign is making headway and where smoke free advocates are seeking to keep teens and young women safe from the idea of emulating their favorite music idols, the news of Britney Spears caught smoking was yet another nail in the professional coffin.

That Britney Spears might smoke did not really surprise anyone, yet the depictions and also the lack thereof added some fuel to the fire. Within the industry it is known that Britney Spears smokes cigarettes to the tune of about 40 per day. It appears that Marlboro Lights are her poison of choice, and Britney Spears smoking cigarettes became known worldwide when Britney Spears smoking pics were released. They showed her on her hotel’s balcony with a smoke, and soon the news that Britney Spears smoking a cigarette was captured on film made the music rags. Pics of Britney Spears smoking were released – sometimes with a somewhat spiteful caption reminding readers of her previously wholesome image. Seeing Britney Spears in a picture smoking may not be a surprising move, but thinking of Britney Spears as a smoker is making industry execs a bit uneasy. When US Weekly airbrushed out the evidence that Britney Spears smokes and simply ran the picture touting her pretty derriere, the photo sent speculations racing causing fans to wonder “does Britney Spears smoke”? As the ploy was revealed, anti smoking advocates felt the public was misled, and the question about whether or not pop idols should be thus photographed erupted in earnest.