The scene is arid, dry, airless.
What kind of way is this to sell cigarettes?
Free associating doesn't come up with many positive associations, in fact the dug-out holes in the ground representing low-tar numbers look more like empty graves than anything else.
What could be going on here?
Smoking may involve a death wish.
People are moved by just a few very deep themes - things like sex and death. We are rendered vulnerable to messages and suggestibility when our primal desires and/or fears are pricked.