Public slams Dior for perfume ad featuring cigarettes

A model smoking a cigarette in the I am Poison campaign. Photo / Instagram

Dior has been slammed on Instagram for posting a photo depicting a model holding a cigarette for its new fragrance Poison.

"I am not a girl, I am Poison," the photo's caption says.

The public have lashed out at the fashion house for promoting the perfume with a product that is known to be one of the world's biggest killers.

"This is so stupid, way to influence people dior," Yas Aghedar commented.

"Btw cigarettes stink let's hope your perfume can cover it up."

"Since when did smoking becone (sic) a fashion statement? im definatly (sic) not impressed," Harriet Stephens added.

Smoking has a long history with the fashion industry, representing the epitome of cool and glamor in the 50s, but the practice is now seen as outdated.

View this post on Instagram

Are you ready to be poisoned? @dior FEB 1st #poisongirl #iampoison

A post shared by Camille Rowe -Bel (@fingermonkey) on Jan 21, 2016 at 7:33am PST

"That girl is filling herself with poison...over 7000 different chemicals. Grow up Dior this is 2016," Madison McCollough wrote.

"Ahhhhhh @dior you dropped the ball here ... you know how many people die from smoking? Not good," Stephanie Ainsworth added.

Dior responded immediately to the rash of criticism, removing the photo from its Instagram account.

The controversial pic also appears to be absent from the Dior website, which is overtaken by the Poison campaign.

- AAP