Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lab technician? Behind that pocket of pencils beats the heart of a digital computer. This girl has already cross-indexed Tiparillo as a cigar with a slim elegant shape and neat, white tip. She knows that there are two kinds She knows. She's programmed. And she's ready. But how about you? Which Tiparillo are you going to offer? Or are you just going to stand there and start at her pencils?
Tiparillo ran this campaign – “Should a gentleman offer…” from 1967 to 1969. The ads in the campaign all portrayed an intelligent female with a budding career, and turned her into a sex object. These ads refused to give credit to women for their hard-earned careers. Instead, the ads portrayed these women, who would normally be seen as independent, as loose women who would be easily swayed by the offer of a Tiparillo. This ad features a lab technician wearing mod eyeglasses. Her partially exposed breasts are pushed up and placed strategically next to the boxes of Tiparillos, providing the viewer with a subliminal association between female nudity and the cigarette brand. She is further sexualized by the copy text, which states simply that “she’s ready.” The copy text also brings extra attention to her breasts, as if this was necessary, with the question, “Which Tiparillo are you going to offer? Or are you just going to stand there and stare at her pencils?” In fact, without this text, the last thing a viewer would see would be her pens.
Female, Health, Luxury, Playboy, sex appeal, Weight
