Rory Sutherland held for e-cig gaffe

Rory Sutherland’s love of cigarettes has come back to bite him on the bum after he spent 24 hours banged up in a Qatari jail this weekend for smoking an e-cigarette on a plane.
Sutherland, the man who is now known more for his lectures, speeches and industry commentary than for his creative work, tweeted about the experience after being released yesterday.
The Ogilvy Group vice-president wrote: “Well, 24 hours in a Qatari jail. That was unexpected.” When asked what he had done, Sutherland added: “Vaped briefly on a plane exacerbated by kafkaesque administrative nightmare. Like Midnight Express in miniature.”
Speaking to The Drum website, Sutherland said: “I was watching an episode of Silent Witness, when without thinking I put an electronic cigarette in my mouth. I wasn’t even thinking consciously and I hadn’t seen the instructions stating: ‘Do not smoke electronic cigarettes.’ I was sitting in a seat where you couldn’t see the safety announcement.
“So I ended up being detained at the airport where I was repeatedly told that it would take 10 minutes to sort out the problem upon landing, but in order to have my case dealt with, I was effectively imprisoned for 24 hours.”
In a recent issue of Raconteur, Sutherland – a well-known fagger – even claimed smoking was good for you. He wrote: “The Greeks used to be heroic smokers and, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but since the smoking ban, they haven’t been doing nearly so well.”