British government goes after smokers' sex lives

The British government launched a series of tough anti-cigarette adverts on Friday with the message that smoking is bad for your sex life because it makes men impotent and women ugly.

The campaign is designed to target young Britons' fears about their sexual attractiveness - an area the government says is more effective than highlighting general health concerns.

One ad uses a burning cigarette end between two "fingerlegs" as a metaphor for a penis with the strapline "Does smoking make you hard? Not if it means you can't get it up."

Another targets women saying cigarettes lead to premature skin aging and warns that smoking causes "cat's bum mouth."

"We know 70 percent of smokers want to stop smoking; however, with younger people, fears about attractiveness and fertility can be a stronger motivation to quit than fears about health," said Public Health Minister Caroline Flint. The government says smoking increases the risk of Erectile dysfunction by around 50 percent for men in their 30s and 40s and that up to 120,000 British men in this age group were impotent as a result of smoking.

A recent survey by NHS Smoking Helpline also found two-thirds of young men and women, and over half of smokers, said smoking reduced sexual attractiveness.