Lotus is a swamp flower, associated with narcotic sleep. The phrase comes from Homer's Iliad where Odysseus' men find themselves in a "lotus land" where they can live drugged and dreaming forever. Odysseus struggles to free them from this state. Tennyson wrote a famous poem called "The Lotos Eaters" about this episode, since which time it has become synonymous with Hollywood, Western civilization, and TV commercials. (joke, ha, ha, not).
yours, Peter T.