Hacker News Reader

It's not just that. Obviously smoking is a lifestyle. (I don't smoke.) Everyone knows its pure utilitarian benefit is negative. Likewise, who would buy a Big Mac in a plain brown wrapper in an unbranded restaurant with a nondescript "McDonald's" written on it in generic typeface?

People know it's bad. It's a lifestyle.

View on HN

I'd probably go even further than that - you can have, by all accounts, a reasonably healthy lifestyle while still eating mcdonalds, the same isn't true of cigarettes. There's still SOME utilitarian benefit of fast food, even if marginal. Cigarettes are basically the only consumer product that, if used as intended, cause you intrinsic harm. (That I can think of)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com