Cigarette Ads Through the Years: How Tobacco Companies Reflect and Reshape Society by Flora M.
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Slide 1
Cigarette Ads Through the Years:
How Tobacco Companies Reflect and Reshape Society
by Flora M. Brown, Ph.D.
Slide 2
Unit Question: What messages do
American product ads send to
society?
This presentation will compare,
contrast, and critique print, radio, and
magazine cigarette ads from before
and after 1950.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is the brief history of cigarette ads?
What implied messages do cigarette ads
convey in words, visuals and special effects?
How do tobacco companies get their
messages to us?
What manipulative devices are used to
persuade us?
How has society responded to these
messages over the years?
Slide 3
A Brief Smoky History of Cigarettes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
6000 BC First grown in the Americas
1000 BC Possibly Mayans were first to smoke and chew it
1600 Production well established in New World. Although His Holiness Pope Clement
VIII threatened anyone who smoked in a holy place with excommunication, smoking
became popular with Europeans
1856 First cigarette factory opened in U.S.
1858 Fears about effects of tobacco on health raised in The Lancet
1964 U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry announces that smoking causes lung
cancer
1965 Warnings go on cigarette packages
1971 Government bans broadcast cigarette ads
1988 U.S. Surgeon General says nicotine is an addictive drug.
2003 New York City bans smoking in all public places
– Click here to see why
Slide 4
Cigarette ads before the 1900’s were
considered in poor taste. But that was
when they were still being handrolled. Once they began to be mass
produced, Wm. S. Kimball company
began to place ads to go after a
growing literate market. Here is one
of their early ads from 1800’s.
Claim: These cigarettes are handmade
from the finest leaves. And the
company has won 14 prize medals.
Message: Smoke these cigarettes for
refined taste.
Critique: Did you notice the grand folks
riding in a carriage on the upper right
and the cherub in the upper left?
Although women weren’t the initial
target audience, they are pictured
here in the lower left to round out of
the picture of the desirable, luxurious
and heavenly things we all want.
Slide 5
Even though fears about the dangers of smoking were raised as early as 1858,
companies ran ads with positive and sometimes downright deceptive claims
and messages through the 70’s. 66% of adult males under 40 smoked
according to a 1939 Fortune Magazine.
Claim: Cigarette tobacco
tastes good and gives
pleasure.
Message: Smoking will calm
your nerves and soothe your
disposition. A young Maureen
O’Hara smokes our cigarettes
and is still beautiful.
Critique: The use of the term
“psychological fact” implies
that the calming effect of
Camels has been proven.
Slide 6
Recognize this guy?
Before he was an actor, a governor and a
president, he was a radio sportscaster at
WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. Even though
he didn’t really smoke he posed for this
publicity shot for Kentucky Club Pipe
Tobacco and Kentucky Winners
Cigarettes. The postcards pictured here
were sent to anyone who wrote him at
WHO.
Well. . .
did you guess who he is?
Claim: Chesterfield cigarettes are Ronald
Reagan’s favorite because they’re mild
Message: Ronald Reagan smokes. A
handsome celebrity chooses Chesterfield,
so it must be the best.
Critique: Hosts were often used to endorse
products because it was cheaper than
hiring someone else. But how deceptive
can you be than to get a nonsmoker
pretend he’s smoking? Of course now it’s
common practice.
Slide 7
Virginia Slims broke from the competition by riding the wave of feminism to
create a cigarette marketed to women.
Claim: The note card pictured here was
originally part of a set of humorous cards
free with the purchase of Virginia Slims
cigarettes. When this set of cards was
issued in 1981, the Virginia Slims
advertising campaign was so well known
that it wasn't necessary to have either
the brand name or a picture of the pack
on the ad.
Message: Virginia Slims understands the
feminist perspective and can even laugh
with women at the old antiquated roles.
Critique: Virginia Slims appealed to women’s
need to be understood and valued. They
even produced a slimmer and longer
product--never mind that there were
fewer in the package. And that slogan:
You’ve come a long Baby!” Who
wouldn’t love a cigarette that celebrated
your freedom from the old ways?
Slide 8
One popular slogan for "Chesterfield" cigarettes was
"They Do Satisfy." In 1917, World War I started.
Cigarette companies used pictures of soldiers
smoking cigarettes in their advertising. Many people
viewed soldiers as heroes. When they saw the
soldiers smoking, they started smoking too.
Claim: This ad for Chesterfield’s even promotes it as the
perfect Christmas gift.
Message: Santa endorses Chesterfield. These
cigarettes will put a smile in your smoking. They
make your holiday shopping so convenient since
they’re wrapped and ready to go.
Critique: Using a smoking Santa to sell these cigarettes
will appeal to children no matter what the company
says. Next to the Marlboro man, Santa is one of the
most recognizable icons in advertising.
Slide 9
This is one of the most recognizable
ads in advertising history.
Claim: A strong, virile, masculine
cowboy smokes Marlboro and roams
the range all day.
Message: Smoking Marlboro will
help me be self-reliant, independent
and free from authority. I’ll be one of
the cool people in Marlboro Country,
where there’s not even a need for a
sheriff. This is the “Mild Mild West.”
Critique: The white hat confirms that
he is the good guy and the red shirt
stresses power. The eventual irony,
of course, is that the Marlboro man
contracted cancer.
Slide 10
After broadcast cigarette ads were banned,
tobacco companies used the money they were no
longer spending on broadcast ads to develop new
tactics.
Product placement in movies
•Many companies
Sponsor sport and other events
•Virginia Slims Tennis Tour
•Winston Race Cup
Promote new musicians
•No Man Music—Virginia Slims
Slide 11
In product placement tobacco
companies pay producers to
use their product as part of the
props in a movie. The name of
the product must be prominent,
of course.
Claim: Julia Roberts is smoking our
cigarettes.
Message: Julia is a smoker and
prefers our brand over all
others. She’s one of the
beautiful people and we can be
like her if we smoke this brand.
Critique: Now we’re being
manipulated in the most
dangerous way of all. We know
that Julia doesn’t smoke this
brand; perhaps she doesn’t
smoke at all. But the mere fact
that we’ve seen this brand in
her hands will now place a
subsconscious preference in
our minds.
Slide 12
Product
placement
pays well.
Slide 13
Soon the government clears the air
about lies in cigarette advertising
•When tobacco companies realized that women weren’t smoking as much as men,
women started appearing in cigarette ads.
•
•One famous ad for Lucky Strike cigarettes read, "I light a
Lucky and go light on the sweets. That's how I keep in shape and always look peppy."
Cigarette companies told women that they would not gain weight if they smoke their
cigarettes.
•"Not a Single Case of Throat Irritation Due to Smoking
•Camels.“ The Federal Trade Commission stopped untrue
•ads like this one. Instead, tobacco companies came out
•with filtered cigarettes.
Slide 14
• Radio ads with celebrities endorsing cigarettes
were common
Click here and scroll down to hear how a company used World War II to promote their products in a
1943 radio ad
• Cigarette ads that were entertaining were also
common
In the days of radio, tobacco companies found that jingles helped sell their cigarettes
adding a fun element. Try listening to the jingle at the top of this page without tapping
your feet.
http://www.wclynx.com/burntofferings/adswinston.html
• Tobacco companies were clever.
There was the Winston jingle: "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.
Winston tastes good like a SNAP! SNAP! cigarette should."
Even though they offended a few with this blatant usage error, it made them
wildly popular. But at least they were telling the truth. They cigarettes did taste
horrible like we expect a cigarette to taste.
Slide 15
Conclusions
Using a variety of techniques such as testimonials, hyperbole, flattery,
nostalgia and many logical fallacies, cigarette ads send a wide
number of messages to us.
Some of these messages try to convince us that by smoking their
products we will experience happiness, social acceptance,
sophistication, romance and freedom from rules and restrictions.
As laws and social favor has turned on them, tobacco companies have
found clever ways to still make their companies profitable. Even
strategies like helping in the anti-smoking campaign or suing movie
producers for placing their products without their permission have
still resulted in profits for cigarette manufacturers. Wherever tobacco
company names are seen, they are influencing all of us, especially
our most vulnerable: our children.
Continued efforts are needed by citizen and government groups to
counteract the strategies and tactics employed by tobacco
companies.
Slide 16
References
History of smoking. (n.d.). retrieved Jan. 08, 2005, from
http://www.forestonline.org/output/page34.asp.
(n.d.). retrieved Jan. 08, 2005, from Tobacco Ads Web site:
http://medialit.med.sc.edu/smoking.htm.
O'Connell, V. (2004, June 14).Tobacco makers want cigarettes cut from film.
The Wall Street Journal, pp. .
Reilly, P. M. (1997, January 15).Virginia slims gets its own record label. Wall
Street Journal, pp. .
Schoolcraft, H. (n.d.). Schoolcraft on the origin of tobacco. retrieved Jan. 08,
2005, from http://www.tobacco.org/History/sacred.html.
Cigarette Ads Through the Years:
How Tobacco Companies Reflect and Reshape Society
by Flora M. Brown, Ph.D.
Slide 2
Unit Question: What messages do
American product ads send to
society?
This presentation will compare,
contrast, and critique print, radio, and
magazine cigarette ads from before
and after 1950.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is the brief history of cigarette ads?
What implied messages do cigarette ads
convey in words, visuals and special effects?
How do tobacco companies get their
messages to us?
What manipulative devices are used to
persuade us?
How has society responded to these
messages over the years?
Slide 3
A Brief Smoky History of Cigarettes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
6000 BC First grown in the Americas
1000 BC Possibly Mayans were first to smoke and chew it
1600 Production well established in New World. Although His Holiness Pope Clement
VIII threatened anyone who smoked in a holy place with excommunication, smoking
became popular with Europeans
1856 First cigarette factory opened in U.S.
1858 Fears about effects of tobacco on health raised in The Lancet
1964 U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry announces that smoking causes lung
cancer
1965 Warnings go on cigarette packages
1971 Government bans broadcast cigarette ads
1988 U.S. Surgeon General says nicotine is an addictive drug.
2003 New York City bans smoking in all public places
– Click here to see why
Slide 4
Cigarette ads before the 1900’s were
considered in poor taste. But that was
when they were still being handrolled. Once they began to be mass
produced, Wm. S. Kimball company
began to place ads to go after a
growing literate market. Here is one
of their early ads from 1800’s.
Claim: These cigarettes are handmade
from the finest leaves. And the
company has won 14 prize medals.
Message: Smoke these cigarettes for
refined taste.
Critique: Did you notice the grand folks
riding in a carriage on the upper right
and the cherub in the upper left?
Although women weren’t the initial
target audience, they are pictured
here in the lower left to round out of
the picture of the desirable, luxurious
and heavenly things we all want.
Slide 5
Even though fears about the dangers of smoking were raised as early as 1858,
companies ran ads with positive and sometimes downright deceptive claims
and messages through the 70’s. 66% of adult males under 40 smoked
according to a 1939 Fortune Magazine.
Claim: Cigarette tobacco
tastes good and gives
pleasure.
Message: Smoking will calm
your nerves and soothe your
disposition. A young Maureen
O’Hara smokes our cigarettes
and is still beautiful.
Critique: The use of the term
“psychological fact” implies
that the calming effect of
Camels has been proven.
Slide 6
Recognize this guy?
Before he was an actor, a governor and a
president, he was a radio sportscaster at
WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. Even though
he didn’t really smoke he posed for this
publicity shot for Kentucky Club Pipe
Tobacco and Kentucky Winners
Cigarettes. The postcards pictured here
were sent to anyone who wrote him at
WHO.
Well. . .
did you guess who he is?
Claim: Chesterfield cigarettes are Ronald
Reagan’s favorite because they’re mild
Message: Ronald Reagan smokes. A
handsome celebrity chooses Chesterfield,
so it must be the best.
Critique: Hosts were often used to endorse
products because it was cheaper than
hiring someone else. But how deceptive
can you be than to get a nonsmoker
pretend he’s smoking? Of course now it’s
common practice.
Slide 7
Virginia Slims broke from the competition by riding the wave of feminism to
create a cigarette marketed to women.
Claim: The note card pictured here was
originally part of a set of humorous cards
free with the purchase of Virginia Slims
cigarettes. When this set of cards was
issued in 1981, the Virginia Slims
advertising campaign was so well known
that it wasn't necessary to have either
the brand name or a picture of the pack
on the ad.
Message: Virginia Slims understands the
feminist perspective and can even laugh
with women at the old antiquated roles.
Critique: Virginia Slims appealed to women’s
need to be understood and valued. They
even produced a slimmer and longer
product--never mind that there were
fewer in the package. And that slogan:
You’ve come a long Baby!” Who
wouldn’t love a cigarette that celebrated
your freedom from the old ways?
Slide 8
One popular slogan for "Chesterfield" cigarettes was
"They Do Satisfy." In 1917, World War I started.
Cigarette companies used pictures of soldiers
smoking cigarettes in their advertising. Many people
viewed soldiers as heroes. When they saw the
soldiers smoking, they started smoking too.
Claim: This ad for Chesterfield’s even promotes it as the
perfect Christmas gift.
Message: Santa endorses Chesterfield. These
cigarettes will put a smile in your smoking. They
make your holiday shopping so convenient since
they’re wrapped and ready to go.
Critique: Using a smoking Santa to sell these cigarettes
will appeal to children no matter what the company
says. Next to the Marlboro man, Santa is one of the
most recognizable icons in advertising.
Slide 9
This is one of the most recognizable
ads in advertising history.
Claim: A strong, virile, masculine
cowboy smokes Marlboro and roams
the range all day.
Message: Smoking Marlboro will
help me be self-reliant, independent
and free from authority. I’ll be one of
the cool people in Marlboro Country,
where there’s not even a need for a
sheriff. This is the “Mild Mild West.”
Critique: The white hat confirms that
he is the good guy and the red shirt
stresses power. The eventual irony,
of course, is that the Marlboro man
contracted cancer.
Slide 10
After broadcast cigarette ads were banned,
tobacco companies used the money they were no
longer spending on broadcast ads to develop new
tactics.
Product placement in movies
•Many companies
Sponsor sport and other events
•Virginia Slims Tennis Tour
•Winston Race Cup
Promote new musicians
•No Man Music—Virginia Slims
Slide 11
In product placement tobacco
companies pay producers to
use their product as part of the
props in a movie. The name of
the product must be prominent,
of course.
Claim: Julia Roberts is smoking our
cigarettes.
Message: Julia is a smoker and
prefers our brand over all
others. She’s one of the
beautiful people and we can be
like her if we smoke this brand.
Critique: Now we’re being
manipulated in the most
dangerous way of all. We know
that Julia doesn’t smoke this
brand; perhaps she doesn’t
smoke at all. But the mere fact
that we’ve seen this brand in
her hands will now place a
subsconscious preference in
our minds.
Slide 12
Product
placement
pays well.
Slide 13
Soon the government clears the air
about lies in cigarette advertising
•When tobacco companies realized that women weren’t smoking as much as men,
women started appearing in cigarette ads.
•
•One famous ad for Lucky Strike cigarettes read, "I light a
Lucky and go light on the sweets. That's how I keep in shape and always look peppy."
Cigarette companies told women that they would not gain weight if they smoke their
cigarettes.
•"Not a Single Case of Throat Irritation Due to Smoking
•Camels.“ The Federal Trade Commission stopped untrue
•ads like this one. Instead, tobacco companies came out
•with filtered cigarettes.
Slide 14
• Radio ads with celebrities endorsing cigarettes
were common
Click here and scroll down to hear how a company used World War II to promote their products in a
1943 radio ad
• Cigarette ads that were entertaining were also
common
In the days of radio, tobacco companies found that jingles helped sell their cigarettes
adding a fun element. Try listening to the jingle at the top of this page without tapping
your feet.
http://www.wclynx.com/burntofferings/adswinston.html
• Tobacco companies were clever.
There was the Winston jingle: "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.
Winston tastes good like a SNAP! SNAP! cigarette should."
Even though they offended a few with this blatant usage error, it made them
wildly popular. But at least they were telling the truth. They cigarettes did taste
horrible like we expect a cigarette to taste.
Slide 15
Conclusions
Using a variety of techniques such as testimonials, hyperbole, flattery,
nostalgia and many logical fallacies, cigarette ads send a wide
number of messages to us.
Some of these messages try to convince us that by smoking their
products we will experience happiness, social acceptance,
sophistication, romance and freedom from rules and restrictions.
As laws and social favor has turned on them, tobacco companies have
found clever ways to still make their companies profitable. Even
strategies like helping in the anti-smoking campaign or suing movie
producers for placing their products without their permission have
still resulted in profits for cigarette manufacturers. Wherever tobacco
company names are seen, they are influencing all of us, especially
our most vulnerable: our children.
Continued efforts are needed by citizen and government groups to
counteract the strategies and tactics employed by tobacco
companies.
Slide 16
References
History of smoking. (n.d.). retrieved Jan. 08, 2005, from
http://www.forestonline.org/output/page34.asp.
(n.d.). retrieved Jan. 08, 2005, from Tobacco Ads Web site:
http://medialit.med.sc.edu/smoking.htm.
O'Connell, V. (2004, June 14).Tobacco makers want cigarettes cut from film.
The Wall Street Journal, pp. .
Reilly, P. M. (1997, January 15).Virginia slims gets its own record label. Wall
Street Journal, pp. .
Schoolcraft, H. (n.d.). Schoolcraft on the origin of tobacco. retrieved Jan. 08,
2005, from http://www.tobacco.org/History/sacred.html.