Hon, let me tell you something. It's gonna blow your mind.

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Cigarettes - are fuckin' cool. People love cigarettes because they are fucking cool. People love cigarettes because when they smoke one, they feel that they look like a scene from a black-and-white movie. Because when they smoke one, they convey a certain message, or at least flavor of message. Because smoking a cigarette simultaneously says, "Fuck you," and "Look at me."

Mustangs are cigarettes. They convey a certain air. They are not just a status symbol or a "car." To drive a Mustang is to deliberately choose to try to convey certain values and traits about yourself. That is what GM has sold you when you drive a Mustang. It has nothing to do with what the car looks like. It has everything to do with what it means and represents.

Of course Mustangs appeal to you. They appeal to most people. That's because they have become synonymous with a kind of badass greased-back toothpick-chewing male sex symbol straight out of the '80s or '50s. They are not only designed to do that but every Mustang ad ever made conveys that idea. Movies have bought into these ads and use Mustang ownership/drivership as a way to convey messages about the person handling the car. And so on.

Cigarettes cause cancer and they suck. But ask any cigarette smoker and they'll agree: cigs are sexy as fuck. Cig smokers are secret romantics.

Nobody gets hooked on tobacco or 'stangs or American hot rods because of the way they look. They get hooked because of the image they have been made to represent.

As for me? Me? Well I confess. I'm a classic '60s Stingray kind of girl. That car's got curves like a woman you would fuck. It's a beautiful god-damn car. But a Stringray is loaded with image and secret meaning just like a Mustang, just like a Ford F150, just like a Prius or Fiat.

We choose what image of ourselves we present to the world. Don't feel bad if the image you present includes a 'Stang. Just know what it means when it does that, and own it.