Why does Pink Panther smoke cigarettes in some of his cartoons?

Answer 1

The Pink Panther Cartoons are based on a character created for the cinematic opening of the film The Pink Panther, where the "Pink Panther" was a large, pinkish diamond that purportedly contained a flaw that, from a certain angle, resembled a "leaping panther."

The camera then zoomed into the diamond while going out of focus, and then refocusing on an (animated) character that looks similar to the Pink Panther of the later cartoons, but sitting on its haunches in a fashion that more resembled an actual cat... and smoking a cigarette in a cigarette holder. (At the time, this suggested "sophistication" ... hey, the movie was made in 1963, when smoking was still thought of as glamorous.)

The character was popular enough that a number of cartoon shorts were later made featuring a more anthropomorphic version, and a few of them retained the cigarette holder.

Answer 2

Back in the 1960s and 1970s it was OK to smoke cigarettes on TV. Pink Panther was a cool cat and he was one of the few cartoon characters that smoked on screen.