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Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising

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Low Tar – img43531

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Claims of low ‘tar,’ less ‘tar,’ or even lowest ‘tar’ have been circulating in cigarette advertisements for decades. This theme features ads which revolve around deceptive low tar claims which try to out-do each other, some going as far as to claim less than 1 mg of tar per cigarette. By ‘tar,’ tobacco companies are referring to the brown, sticky accumulation of chemicals amassed when tobacco is burned. This residue is considered to be one of the most damaging components of smoking, as it contains a multitude of identified carcinogens and causes harmful build-up in the lungs. It is therefore no surprise that, early on, tobacco companies began to make their cigarettes appear less harmful by advertising reduced tar levels. Low tar cigarettes are intended to keep concerned smokers from quitting by providing these smokers with what appears to be a healthy alternative. Unfortunately, lower tar ratings have no bearing on the safety of the brand in question. As internal tobacco documents have revealed, tobacco companies have been fully knowledgeable that lower tar cigarettes were not actually safer or healthier.

It was not until quite recently that any action was taken in the United States to address the deceptive and dangerous mislabeling. However, when the FDA was granted regulatory authority over tobacco products in 2009, these concerns came to the forefront of regulation. As of July 2010, the words “mild,” “low,” or “light” are not to be used on tobacco products, as these words cause consumers to underestimate their health risks. This new regulation means that brands previously marketed as “light” or “low-tar” can no longer include these words on their packaging or advertising.

Unsurprisingly, tobacco manufacturers have figured out a creative way to escape this regulation. Now, they rely on different colored packages to indicate whether a certain product is light, ultra-light, or full-flavor. The colors vary slightly among brands, but generally adhere to the following standards: red indicates regular; dark green indicates menthol; light green, blue, or gold indicate previously “light” cigarettes; and silver or orange indicate previously “ultra light” cigarettes. Camel, for example, replaced their “Camel Lights” product with “Camel Blue.” Philip Morris stuck with the idea that lighter shades indicate a “lighter” cigarette, and thus Marlboro Lights became Marlboro Gold, and Marlboro Ultra-Lights became Marlboro Silver. Likewise, R.J. Reynolds’ Salem Ultra-Lights became “Salem Silver Box.” The FDA has regulatory authority to demand that tobacco companies discontinue their color branding techniques in the future.

Fresh as Mountain Air – img3546

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In the 1930s and 1940s, Old Gold ran a series of campaigns touting “freshness” in their cigarettes. In these ads, “freshness” has a double-meaning, appearing on the surface to relate solely to whether or not the cigarettes become stale while sitting on the shelves; However, the word “fresh” is also a not-so-subliminal metaphor for healthfulness, purity, and refreshment. Ads claiming Old Golds were “Fresh as mountain air” or “Fresh as a spring crocus” (a type of flower), most clearly betray Lorillard’s true intentions. Indeed, Old Gold’s claim to “freshness” was a dangerous and misleading health claim, working to convince consumers that Old Golds were safe, and perhaps even beneficial, to their health.

Two “innovations” for the brand provided Lorillard with the opportunity to advertise its cigarettes as fresh. First, a “double-jacket” of cellophane – that is, two layers of cellophane – was wrapped around each pack, keeping Old Golds “factory-fresh,” and allowing Lorillard to advertise its cigarettes as such. The second innovation was the addition of apple “honey” as the humectant (the agent used to keep the tobacco leaves from drying out) in Old Gold’s tobacco. Apple honey – reportedly discovered through a partnership between Old Gold and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1943 – was Old Gold’s solution to overcoming the wartime shortage of humidifying agents. Of course, the use of apple honey also allowed for the consumer to make the subconscious leap to Old Golds being “honey for the throat.” This effect, coupled with the inference that “freshness” meant healthfulness, contributed to Old Gold’s ability to present its brand as healthful without directly making false health claims.

Springtime – img3566

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In the 1960s and ’70s, Salem advertised its cigarettes as “Springtime Fresh.” Not only did this comparison to springtime provide Salem with the perfect excuse to apply green landscapes to its advertisements (reflecting minty green menthol flavor), but, more importantly, it also served as a means of subliminally aligning Salem cigarettes with vitality.

Many of the ads pair blooming flowers and lush fields with smiling women or fun-loving couples. Both the bursting greenery and the vivacious models are tied to Salem cigarettes in the ads, instilling the brand with an apparently healthful aura by association. The same affiliation with springtime was used in 1956 by Camel, in an ad depicting a young woman with rosy cheeks ready to attend her high school prom.

Across the board, freshness was used in tobacco advertisements as a code-word for healthfulness. Kool harnessed an entirely different season in its “Snow Fresh” ads of 1958 and 1959 for a surprisingly similar effect as Salem’s “Springtime Fresh” ads of later years. But even these snowy ads capitalized on the vitality intoned by greenery, including imagery of new saplings emerging from the snow or golden autumn leaves whispering behind a young couple in love.

Menthol brands grew in popularity after the postwar “health scare,” and many other forms of “health reassurance” were offered (space-age filters of myriad sorts, promises of low-tar and/or nicotine deliveries, eventually “lights,” etc.).

Pure & Clean – img3578

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Tobacco companies have claimed that their cigarettes are “pure” or “clean” for decades. In the 1930s, the question of purity was more about sanitation during production and manufacture, as was the case for Chesterfields, or about additives in tobacco, as was the case for Old Golds. Later, after the “health scare,” purity referred to how “clean” a cigarette’s smoke could become after filtration.

In the early 1930s, Chesterfield began advertising its cigarettes as “PURE,” touting the “cleanest ‘bill of health’ any cigarette could rate.” Ad copy compared Chesterfield cigarettes to “pure food, pure milk, pure water,” thereby aligning cigarettes with these everyday necessities for living and for maintaining health. One of these ads claims that Chesterfield cigarettes are “scientifically purer” in every way. It claimed that the paper wrapped around Chesterfield tobaccos is “so pure it burns without any taste or odor,” and cites a “highly scientific process” which allows Chesterfield to reach “a state of purity unmatched” by other cigarette brands. Another ad hones in on the paper-making process, and includes an illustration and an explanation of how Chesterfield’s paper is made: “the linen pulp of the flax plant is washed over and over again in water as pure as a mountain stream.” In addition, Chesterfield claims that “every ingredient” in its cigarettes and “every method” used in their manufacture is checked by scientists; “Even the factory air is washed, and changed every 4 ½ minutes. More purity!” a number of ads exclaim.

Also in the early 1930s, Old Gold used the slogan “Pure tobacco… no artificial flavors” as a method for claiming less throat irritation. It is interesting to note that recently, the health focus has again shifted toward additive-free cigarettes, as is the case with Natural American Spirit.

Later, after the introduction of the “health scare” and the influx of filter cigarettes on the market, many tobacco brands began describing the smoke inhaled through their filters as “pure” or “clean.” In 1959, for example, King Sano boasted “America’s purest tobacco taste.” (King Sano’s name alone harkens back to the Chesterfield ads of the 1930s and their preoccupation with sanitation.) Other filter brands also hopped on the pure and clean bandwagon. Fleetwood cigarettes advertised “a cleaner, finer smoke.” One Fleetwood ad from 1943 depicts a kitten licking its paw above the caption, “Every puff of Fleetwood smoke Cleans Itself!” In the 1960s, Parliament ads reached out to women with the slogan, “if you like things neat and clean, you’ll like Parliament,” referring to the smoke filtered through Parliament’s recessed, hi/fi filter.

These claims of purity present pure tobacco as safe, and distract consumers from what should be the real concern: tobacco in its purest form is deadly.

Natural – img3587

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This theme highlights cigarette ads, which deceptively commandeer the term “natural” in order to normalize smoking and to present their product as superior and even healthier than other brands. The intended message of the term has changed over the decades while the term has become a dominant marketing theme in the new millennium.

In the 1970s, Salem used the term “natural” in a series of ads promoting natural menthol flavor. It was a smart tactic to begin the decade, which followed on the heels of the birth of the flower child. Indeed, by the early 1970s, hippie culture had arguably been integrated into the mainstream culture, and a heavy emphasis was placed on the earth and its environment, with the first ever Earth Day held in 1970.
The intended message of Salem's natural campaign was that because Salem used natural menthol rather than artificial menthol like most brands, their cigarettes were superior. Ads for the campaign were strongly green in color, reflecting the longstanding tradition of green used in menthol advertising. However, the green was largely portrayed through woodsy landscapes, featuring rugged outdoorsmen or adventurous, nature-loving couples. Fishermen, rock climbers, and horseback riders feature prominently in these ads in order to target a wide variety of audiences, ranging from older “macho” men to younger, daring, men and women. The majority of these ads display the slogan, “It's only natural” — a slogan which is rife with multiple meanings and implications. On the surface, the slogan is simply alerting consumers that the menthol is solely natural, not a bit artificial. However, it is initially unclear to the consumer that the antecedent to “natural” is menthol; instead, “natural” appears to refer to the cigarette or perhaps to the act of smoking. This means the slogan could also be interpreted as indicating that Salem is an all-natural cigarette, or, of more concern, that smoking is a perfectly natural pastime. Both latter options are completely false and deceptive, yet Salem was able to make these claims by alluding to them subtly.

Decades later, this marketing technique was still appealing to tobacco companies; In 1999, Kool followed Salem's lead with Kool Naturals, claiming that the cigarettes were “made with all natural menthol” and, in small print, that “no artificial flavors [are] added to the tobaccos.” The ad is simple, with a background resembling recycled paper or a brown grocery bag in order to present the cigarette as somehow more in line with environmentalist views. The take-home message of the ad is an all-natural cigarette, with the word NATURAL taking up the majority of the visual space.

But an all-natural cigarette is not always simply implied. It has also been advertised explicitly by brands such as Nat Sherman Naturals and, most notably, Natural American Spirit. Needless to say, whether or not cigarettes have chemicals added during production, they will produce carcinogens when smoked. Nat Sherman has claimed to produce cigars and cigarettes made from “100% pure and natural tobacco” since 1930. Nat Sherman cigarettes were often considered stronger, and more similar to a cigar, and their claim to “100% natural tobacco” was meant to bolster this claim to strength. However, by 1982, when Natural American Spirit was founded, “all-natural” had certainly taken on a different meaning.

Natural American Spirit goes the extra mile to target the recent wave of eco-friendly, progressive, environmentalists, who as a general rule, happen to be young and alternative – the classic target audience for cigarette manufacturers. They manage to hit all of the happening buzz words in their quest to promote themselves as virtuous and well-intentioned, masking the fact that they sell a harmful product, whether or not they do so in a “sustainable” way. Ad copy demonstrates the prolific use of buzz words: “We grow our premium natural tobacco in a responsible, sustainable way through our earth-friendly and organic growing programs. We also strive to reduce our footprint on the earth by using recycled materials and renewable energy sources like wind power. Protecting the earth is as important to us as it is to you.”

An Internal tobacco industry document shows that the Natural American spirit brand was marketed as a “healthier alternative” to traditional cigarettes. The document states Natural American Spirit is a choice for those who want to smoke “the purest cigarettes” available(1). The early Natural American Spirit packs contained the following message, “Guaranteed pure ingredients: 100% additive-free Virginia tobaccos and nothing else.” However, after 2000, the Federal Trade Commission mandated that all advertisements for the product contain the following message “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette” in addition to the standard Surgeon General’s message (2). The hope was that this warning would alert consumers that natural tobacco does not mean safer tobacco. The question is, did this perceived health benefit change after the FTC warning label mandate in 2000? If popular culture is any clue, the answer is no; As recently as 2008, the female protagonist, April (Isla Fisher), in the romantic comedy “Definitely, Maybe” discusses the health benefits she feels she receives when smoking Natural American Spirit cigarettes over Marlboros, the choice of the male protagonist, Will (Ryan Reynolds). When Will asks incredulously why she is willing to pay so much for a pack of cigarettes, April responds that “They don't put as many chemicals in them.” He pushes, “So those are healthy cigarettes,” and she says, “Something like that.” She also tells him, as he holds a pack of Marlboros tightly, “They put saltpeter in your cigarettes, which make them burn faster, which make you smoke more.” Clearly, perceived health benefits of natural cigarettes are still rampant in mainstream popular culture, a dangerous misconception.

1. Santa Fe Natural American Tobacco Company. Answers to your questions oabout American Spirit Cigarettes. Available at http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/the56a00/pdf?search=%22natural%20american%20spirits%22

2. Pitofsky, Robert et al. “In the Matter of Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, Inc,, a corporation. Docket No. C-3952. Decision and Order.” United States of America Before Federal Trade Commission. 12 June 2000. http://www.ftc.gov/os/2000/06/santafe.do.htm

No Additives – img3619

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For decades, tobacco companies have been advertising particular cigarette brands as additive-free in an effort to present the brands as less injurious to health. In the early 1930s, the slogan “Pure tobacco… no artificial flavors” graced the advertisements for Old Gold cigarettes. Ad copy claimed that because Old Golds lacked artificial flavors, they would not cause throat irritation. At the time, the largest health concern for consumers concerning cigarettes was “smoker’s cough” and throat irritation. Now, with more serious health implications such as greater risk of lung cancer, emphysema and heart attack associated with smoking, it is interesting to note that this additive-free advertising technique is still be used in recent decades.

In 1997, Winston adopted the slogan “No Additives – No Bull,” and claimed that laboratory tests revealed that the top ten non-menthol U.S. brands of cigarettes contain 6% additives, and only 94% tobacco, whereas Winstons are 100% tobacco. This ad technique is surprisingly reminiscent of those used during the infamous “tar derby,” in which cigarette brands competed with one another for the lowest tar and nicotine levels. However, the benefits behind 100% tobacco as opposed to 94% are unclear in this case. Consumers are meant to infer that they somehow benefit from the lack of additives, though a warning box clarifies that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” In Winston’s case, smoking 100% tobacco is meant to make the smoker feel more “hardcore” or serious – a true smoker – “No Bull.” Other Winston ads from the late ’90s render Winstons as a “Real Cigarette,” presumably as opposed to a sissy cigarette, and some use the simple slogan, “Straight up” a slang term connoting both honest, straight-talk and something that isn’t watered down (as in an alcoholic beverage with no ice). Later Winston ads from 2003 take a similar approach, advising young people to “Leave the Bull Behind” and opt for a “naturally smooth” Winston.

Though Winston advertised its additive-free cigarette to a straight talking, no-nonsense smoker, Natural American Spirit targets a more health-conscious audience. Imagery on the cigarette pack features a figure wearing a headdress and smoking a traditional peace pipe, harkening back to Native American smoking traditions in an effort to position Natural American Spirit cigarettes as spiritually healing and therapeutic. Though its ads also include the same warning that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette,” the ads themselves work to counteract this small message. One recent ad from 2007 claims in a large, powerful font that “NATURAL TASTES BETTER,” and depicts a warm, sun-drenched tobacco field and a tobacco warehouse emblazoned with presumably Native American symbols. Ads from 2006 position Natural American Spirit drive home the clear health message: “The fact is the tobacco in most cigarettes contains additives drawn from a list of 464 chemicals commonly used in tobacco products. In addition, other tobacco companies use processed stems, reconstituted sheet tobacco and add other inexpensive, lower grade compounds. We add none of these.” Despite the small box warning consumers otherwise, consumers are meant to infer that Natural American Spirits are preferable and healthier than other cigarettes because they exclude these 464 chemicals and cheap compounds.

These claims to pure tobacco and additive-free cigarettes distract consumers from what should be the real concern: tobacco in its purest form remains deadly.

For decades, tobacco companies have been advertising particular cigarette brands as additive-free in an effort to present the brands as less injurious to health. In the early 1930s, the slogan “Pure tobacco… no artificial flavors” graced the advertisements for Old Gold cigarettes. Ad copy claimed that because Old Golds lacked artificial flavors, they would not cause throat irritation. At the time, the largest health concern for consumers concerning cigarettes was “smoker’s cough” and throat irritation. Now, with more serious health implications such as greater risk of lung cancer, emphysema and heart attack associated with smoking, it is interesting to note that this additive-free advertising technique is still be used in recent decades.

In 1997, Winston adopted the slogan “No Additives – No Bull,” and claimed that laboratory tests revealed that the top ten non-menthol U.S. brands of cigarettes contain 6% additives, and only 94% tobacco, whereas Winstons are 100% tobacco. This ad technique is surprisingly reminiscent of those used during the infamous “tar derby,” in which cigarette brands competed with one another for the lowest tar and nicotine levels. However, the benefits behind 100% tobacco as opposed to 94% are unclear in this case. Consumers are meant to infer that they somehow benefit from the lack of additives, though a warning box clarifies that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” In Winston’s case, smoking 100% tobacco is meant to make the smoker feel more “hardcore” or serious – a true smoker – “No Bull.” Other Winston ads from the late ’90s render Winstons as a “Real Cigarette,” presumably as opposed to a sissy cigarette, and some use the simple slogan, “Straight up” a slang term connoting both honest, straight-talk and something that isn’t watered down (as in an alcoholic beverage with no ice). Later Winston ads from 2003 take a similar approach, advising young people to “Leave the Bull Behind” and opt for a “naturally smooth” Winston.

Though Winston advertised its additive-free cigarette to a straight talking, no-nonsense smoker, Natural American Spirit targets a more health-conscious audience. Imagery on the cigarette pack features a figure wearing a headdress and smoking a traditional peace pipe, harkening back to Native American smoking traditions in an effort to position Natural American Spirit cigarettes as spiritually healing and therapeutic. Though its ads also include the same warning that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette,” the ads themselves work to counteract this small message. One recent ad from 2007 claims in a large, powerful font that “NATURAL TASTES BETTER,” and depicts a warm, sun-drenched tobacco field and a tobacco warehouse emblazoned with presumably Native American symbols. Ads from 2006 position Natural American Spirit drive home the clear health message: “The fact is the tobacco in most cigarettes contains additives drawn from a list of 464 chemicals commonly used in tobacco products. In addition, other tobacco companies use processed stems, reconstituted sheet tobacco and add other inexpensive, lower grade compounds. We add none of these.” Despite the small box warning consumers otherwise, consumers are meant to infer that Natural American Spirits are preferable and healthier than other cigarettes because they exclude these 464 chemicals and cheap compounds.

These claims to pure tobacco and additive-free cigarettes distract consumers from what should be the real concern: tobacco in its purest form remains deadly.

For decades, tobacco companies have been advertising particular cigarette brands as additive-free in an effort to present the brands as less injurious to health. In the early 1930s, the slogan “Pure tobacco… no artificial flavors” graced the advertisements for Old Gold cigarettes. Ad copy claimed that because Old Golds lacked artificial flavors, they would not cause throat irritation. At the time, the largest health concern for consumers concerning cigarettes was “smoker’s cough” and throat irritation. Now, with more serious health implications such as greater risk of lung cancer, emphysema and heart attack associated with smoking, it is interesting to note that this additive-free advertising technique is still be used in recent decades.

In 1997, Winston adopted the slogan “No Additives – No Bull,” and claimed that laboratory tests revealed that the top ten non-menthol U.S. brands of cigarettes contain 6% additives, and only 94% tobacco, whereas Winstons are 100% tobacco. This ad technique is surprisingly reminiscent of those used during the infamous “tar derby,” in which cigarette brands competed with one another for the lowest tar and nicotine levels. However, the benefits behind 100% tobacco as opposed to 94% are unclear in this case. Consumers are meant to infer that they somehow benefit from the lack of additives, though a warning box clarifies that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” In Winston’s case, smoking 100% tobacco is meant to make the smoker feel more “hardcore” or serious – a true smoker – “No Bull.” Other Winston ads from the late ’90s render Winstons as a “Real Cigarette,” presumably as opposed to a sissy cigarette, and some use the simple slogan, “Straight up” a slang term connoting both honest, straight-talk and something that isn’t watered down (as in an alcoholic beverage with no ice). Later Winston ads from 2003 take a similar approach, advising young people to “Leave the Bull Behind” and opt for a “naturally smooth” Winston.

Though Winston advertised its additive-free cigarette to a straight talking, no-nonsense smoker, Natural American Spirit targets a more health-conscious audience. Imagery on the cigarette pack features a figure wearing a headdress and smoking a traditional peace pipe, harkening back to Native American smoking traditions in an effort to position Natural American Spirit cigarettes as spiritually healing and therapeutic. Though its ads also include the same warning that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette,” the ads themselves work to counteract this small message. One recent ad from 2007 claims in a large, powerful font that “NATURAL TASTES BETTER,” and depicts a warm, sun-drenched tobacco field and a tobacco warehouse emblazoned with presumably Native American symbols. Ads from 2006 position Natural American Spirit drive home the clear health message: “The fact is the tobacco in most cigarettes contains additives drawn from a list of 464 chemicals commonly used in tobacco products. In addition, other tobacco companies use processed stems, reconstituted sheet tobacco and add other inexpensive, lower grade compounds. We add none of these.” Despite the small box warning consumers otherwise, consumers are meant to infer that Natural American Spirits are preferable and healthier than other cigarettes because they exclude these 464 chemicals and cheap compounds.

These claims to pure tobacco and additive-free cigarettes distract consumers from what should be the real concern: tobacco in its purest form remains deadly.

For decades, tobacco companies have been advertising particular cigarette brands as additive-free in an effort to present the brands as less injurious to health. In the early 1930s, the slogan “Pure tobacco… no artificial flavors” graced the advertisements for Old Gold cigarettes. Ad copy claimed that because Old Golds lacked artificial flavors, they would not cause throat irritation. At the time, the largest health concern for consumers concerning cigarettes was “smoker’s cough” and throat irritation. Now, with more serious health implications such as greater risk of lung cancer, emphysema and heart attack associated with smoking, it is interesting to note that this additive-free advertising technique is still be used in recent decades.

In 1997, Winston adopted the slogan “No Additives – No Bull,” and claimed that laboratory tests revealed that the top ten non-menthol U.S. brands of cigarettes contain 6% additives, and only 94% tobacco, whereas Winstons are 100% tobacco. This ad technique is surprisingly reminiscent of those used during the infamous “tar derby,” in which cigarette brands competed with one another for the lowest tar and nicotine levels. However, the benefits behind 100% tobacco as opposed to 94% are unclear in this case. Consumers are meant to infer that they somehow benefit from the lack of additives, though a warning box clarifies that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” In Winston’s case, smoking 100% tobacco is meant to make the smoker feel more “hardcore” or serious – a true smoker – “No Bull.” Other Winston ads from the late ’90s render Winstons as a “Real Cigarette,” presumably as opposed to a sissy cigarette, and some use the simple slogan, “Straight up” a slang term connoting both honest, straight-talk and something that isn’t watered down (as in an alcoholic beverage with no ice). Later Winston ads from 2003 take a similar approach, advising young people to “Leave the Bull Behind” and opt for a “naturally smooth” Winston.

Though Winston advertised its additive-free cigarette to a straight talking, no-nonsense smoker, Natural American Spirit targets a more health-conscious audience. Imagery on the cigarette pack features a figure wearing a headdress and smoking a traditional peace pipe, harkening back to Native American smoking traditions in an effort to position Natural American Spirit cigarettes as spiritually healing and therapeutic. Though its ads also include the same warning that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette,” the ads themselves work to counteract this small message. One recent ad from 2007 claims in a large, powerful font that “NATURAL TASTES BETTER,” and depicts a warm, sun-drenched tobacco field and a tobacco warehouse emblazoned with presumably Native American symbols. Ads from 2006 position Natural American Spirit drive home the clear health message: “The fact is the tobacco in most cigarettes contains additives drawn from a list of 464 chemicals commonly used in tobacco products. In addition, other tobacco companies use processed stems, reconstituted sheet tobacco and add other inexpensive, lower grade compounds. We add none of these.” Despite the small box warning consumers otherwise, consumers are meant to infer that Natural American Spirits are preferable and healthier than other cigarettes because they exclude these 464 chemicals and cheap compounds.

These claims to pure tobacco and additive-free cigarettes distract consumers from what should be the real concern: tobacco in its purest form remains deadly.

For decades, tobacco companies have been advertising particular cigarette brands as additive-free in an effort to present the brands as less injurious to health. In the early 1930s, the slogan “Pure tobacco… no artificial flavors” graced the advertisements for Old Gold cigarettes. Ad copy claimed that because Old Golds lacked artificial flavors, they would not cause throat irritation. At the time, the largest health concern for consumers concerning cigarettes was “smoker’s cough” and throat irritation. Now, with more serious health implications such as greater risk of lung cancer, emphysema and heart attack associated with smoking, it is interesting to note that this additive-free advertising technique is still be used in recent decades.

In 1997, Winston adopted the slogan “No Additives – No Bull,” and claimed that laboratory tests revealed that the top ten non-menthol U.S. brands of cigarettes contain 6% additives, and only 94% tobacco, whereas Winstons are 100% tobacco. This ad technique is surprisingly reminiscent of those used during the infamous “tar derby,” in which cigarette brands competed with one another for the lowest tar and nicotine levels. However, the benefits behind 100% tobacco as opposed to 94% are unclear in this case. Consumers are meant to infer that they somehow benefit from the lack of additives, though a warning box clarifies that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” In Winston’s case, smoking 100% tobacco is meant to make the smoker feel more “hardcore” or serious – a true smoker – “No Bull.” Other Winston ads from the late ’90s render Winstons as a “Real Cigarette,” presumably as opposed to a sissy cigarette, and some use the simple slogan, “Straight up” a slang term connoting both honest, straight-talk and something that isn’t watered down (as in an alcoholic beverage with no ice). Later Winston ads from 2003 take a similar approach, advising young people to “Leave the Bull Behind” and opt for a “naturally smooth” Winston.

Though Winston advertised its additive-free cigarette to a straight talking, no-nonsense smoker, Natural American Spirit targets a more health-conscious audience. Imagery on the cigarette pack features a figure wearing a headdress and smoking a traditional peace pipe, harkening back to Native American smoking traditions in an effort to position Natural American Spirit cigarettes as spiritually healing and therapeutic. Though its ads also include the same warning that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette,” the ads themselves work to counteract this small message. One recent ad from 2007 claims in a large, powerful font that “NATURAL TASTES BETTER,” and depicts a warm, sun-drenched tobacco field and a tobacco warehouse emblazoned with presumably Native American symbols. Ads from 2006 position Natural American Spirit drive home the clear health message: “The fact is the tobacco in most cigarettes contains additives drawn from a list of 464 chemicals commonly used in tobacco products. In addition, other tobacco companies use processed stems, reconstituted sheet tobacco and add other inexpensive, lower grade compounds. We add none of these.” Despite the small box warning consumers otherwise, consumers are meant to infer that Natural American Spirits are preferable and healthier than other cigarettes because they exclude these 464 chemicals and cheap compounds.

These claims to pure tobacco and additive-free cigarettes distract consumers from what should be the real concern: tobacco in its purest form remains deadly.

It's Toasted – img13044

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The American Tobacco Company began using the slogan “It’s Toasted” for Lucky Strike cigarettes in 1917. “It’s toasted” referred to the process of heat curing tobacco leaf as opposed to simply sun drying. Purported to “remove harmful corrosive acids (pungent irritants)” and to “sterilize” tobacco, this process of curing tobacco did not in fact differ widely from methods of other manufacturers.

The slogan, still included in small text on Lucky Strike cartons today, has been included in a variety of Lucky Strike campaigns over the decades, ranging from “Cream of the Crop” (1928-1934) to “Fat Shadow” (1929-1930) to throat referrals (1927-1937). The meaning of the message was elastic — it was at some times used to indicate better taste, while at others to indicate less throat irritation.

First used in 1917 on an ad entitled, “Do you like good toast?” the slogan was meant to intone delicious flavor: “Toasting Burley holds the flavor, and helps it… Remember– it’s toasted! Like hot buttered toast.” Perhaps this comparison to toasting and coked food allowed Lucky Strike to position itself as a sterilized cigarette, free of disease such as tuberculosis.

The following year, Lucky Strike continued with the comparison to delicious cuisine, capitalizing on the American public’s preoccupation with the WWI shortage on food; indeed, in 1918, Lucky introduced its “food conservation series” of ads, which provided consumers with advice such as “More Vegetables Less Meat,” “Eat More Corn,” and “Cheese OK’d by Food Administration.” These guidelines followed FDA recommendations on the wartime food shortage in order to legitimize the purchase of Lucky Strike cigarettes.

While the earliest “It’s toasted” ads had boasted great taste, by 1927, Lucky had changed the meaning of the slogan to throat protection: “It’s toasted. Your throat protection – against irritation – against cough.” But by 1955 they were back in the flavor realm, with “It’s toasted to taste better!” In 1970, Lucky Strike was again considering ad copy which would compare its toasted cigarettes to delicious toast. An internal industry document reveals a mock-up ad featuring two boxes of Lucky Strike popping out of a toaster under the header “Bon Appetit: It’s Toasted to Taste Better” (2).

Clearly, the slogan has an elasticity of message which has allowed Lucky Strike to make health claims whenever convenient or beneficial. The slogan is included on the side of the current packing of the Lucky Strike carton, which reads, “manufacture includes the Lucky Strike process, It's Toasted.”

1. Heimann, Robert K. “Bon Appetit.” American Tobacco. 11 Nov 1970. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/dmv60a00

Sunshine Mellows – img13066

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Lucky Strike’s “Sunshine Mellows” campaign (1931) claimed that the brand used Ultra Violet Rays in its “toasting” process because “everyone knows that sunshine mellows.” The ads featured models tanning on the beach, soaking up the sun’s rays in bathing suits while appearing healthy with flushed cheeks and sun-kissed skin.

The photo captions explain the health benefits of sunshine – “The advice of your physician is: keep out of doors, in the open air, breathe deeply; take plenty of exercise in the mellow sunshine, and have a periodic check-up on the health of your body.” This medical advice mirrors that employed in sanatoriums, tuberculosis treatment centers which advocated heliotherapy and sunbathing as methods to treat tuberculosis patients prior to the mass production of penicillin in the 1940s.

The secondary slogan for these ads, listed after “Sunshine Mellows,” is “Heat Purifies.” This slogan suggests that the toasting process also provides a sanitization and purification of the tobacco leaf. A Lucky strike pamphlet claimed that “As it [the tobacco] tosses and turns in this huge chamber every shred is irradiated . . . every golden strand is mellowed, toned up” (1).

Both slogans, “Sunshine Mellows” and “Heat Purifies” are health claims attributed to the “It’s Toasted” campaign. While the earliest “It’s toasted” ads from 1917 and 1918 had boasted great taste, by 1927, Lucky had changed the meaning of the slogan from indicating great taste to indicating throat protection: “It’s toasted. Your throat protection – against irritation – against cough” and health benefits such as those purported by “Sunshine Mellows.” But by 1955 Lucky Strike was back in the flavor realm, with “It’s toasted to taste better!” Clearly, the slogan has an elasticity of message which allowed Lucky Strike to make health claims whenever convenient or beneficial.

1. “’Sold American’, ‘It’s Toasted’, ‘Sunshine Mellows’, Judge This Evidence For Yourself, Luckies Finer Tobaccos Means Natural Mildness.” American Tobacco. 1940. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/pdx15f00

Freshness – img21453

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Tobacco ads are notorious for broadcasting what can only be called the “Big Lie” – how else could the inhalation of smoke of any kind be compared to breathing in “mountain air?” In these advertisements, smoke is presented to consumers as “fresh” and “clean,” and particular brands are advertised as “springtime fresh” or even “the refreshest.” Ads offering freshness continued well beyond the 1950s, portraying verbal or visual themes of outdoor recreation, mountain air, clean rushing streams, and more.

Early on, the freshness theme became grist for the industry’s “tit for tat” advertising. Indeed, while The American Tobacco Company advertised that Lucky Strikes were better because they were “toasted,” R.J. Reynolds countered that their Camels were superior because they were “naturally fresh: never parched, never toasted!” Camel also offered an alternative meaning of the word “fresh” by heavily promoting its cellophane wrapper, intended to keep cigarettes from going stale on store shelves.

Freshness was also commonly used as a kind of code-word for healthfulness. Slogans used in tobacco ads called to mind the “cool” of ice or the fresh healing virtues of springtime mountain pastures. “Kool” and other menthol brands were also supposed to deliver a kind of hospital-like sense of sanitary safety, and one company implied cleanliness in its very name. “Sano” cigarettes didn’t last very long: they didn’t deliver as much in the way of tar or nicotine as more popular brands and their marketing skill lagged behind that of the bigger players. By contrast, menthol brands grew in popularity after the postwar “health scare,” and many other forms of “health reassurance” were offered (space-age filters of myriad sorts, promises of low-tar and/or nicotine deliveries, eventually “lights,” etc.).

Get a Lift – img3723

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In a prime example of marketing wizardry, tobacco advertisements have simultaneously presented cigarettes as both sedatives and stimulants. Ads worked to convince consumers that cigarettes would calm the smoker when he felt nervous, or pep him up when he felt sluggish. This theme features ad campaigns from that proclaim cigarettes to be stimulants.

In these ads from the early 1930s, Camel provides readers with “personal experiences that point the way to increased energy.” Each ad features a few testimonials from folks of varying professions, explaining how in their line of work, it is important to “Get a LIFT with a CAMEL.” This slogan is at odds with Camel’s other contemporaneous slogan, “It takes healthy nerves,” which claimed that far from being energy-boosting, Camel actually relaxed smokers on the job.

“Tired?” the Camel ads ask. “No matter! Here’s a delightful way to restore your flow of energy … as now revealed by Science.” Most disturbingly of all, the ad falsely claims that the energy boost from Camels “occurs in a harmless and utterly delightful manner.”

The ads target a wide variety of audiences. In particular, one 1937 Camel ad explicitly targets young people with an ad featuring a sporty debutante, calling her “typical of the younger set who go in for vigorous outdoor sports.” Other ads feature older men in distinguished careers in order to target an older set of smokers. Men are also shown in a variety of high-energy jobs; from football quarterbacks to deep sea divers, from rail engineers to pilots, from newspaper men to architects, no one is left out. The ads take a similar approach with women, featuring air hostesses, business women, champion mountain climbers, and even non-working women. One ad from 1934 claims that Olympic Diving Champion Georgia Coleman was “tired out from diving – and then she smoked a Camel!” while another from 1935 says the same for a woman out shopping: “I don’t know any task as exhausting as shopping,” says the unnamed woman. “I often slip away for a Camel when I’m getting tired. A camel restores my energy.”

Indeed, careful attention is paid to non-working women in order to ensure they don’t feel alienated by the plethora of testimonials featuring men and women at work. “A crowded store is tiring,” reiterates Mrs. Van Brunt Timpson in 1935, who also claims that smoking a Camel helps her tackle her shopping. In an ad from the previous year, housewife Mrs. Charles Day says, “Camels pick up my energy,” and in yet another ad from 1935, “college girl” Marguerite Osmun is also quoted as feeling “refreshed” after smoking a Camel “when tired.”

It is shocking to compare these ads to those which claim certain brands calm the nerves, revealing the sheer adaptability of the cigarette and its wide-reaching appeal.

Your Disposition – img3759

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In a prime example of marketing wizardry, tobacco advertisements have simultaneously presented cigarettes as both sedatives and stimulants. Ads worked to convince consumers that cigarettes would calm the smoker when he felt nervous, or pep him up when he felt sluggish.

In these ads from the mid-1950s, Camel claims that their cigarettes will improve a smoker’s “disposition.” The majority of the ads in this campaign feature testimonials from celebrities, like actor Rock Hudson ot Pulitzer Prize winning correspondent Marguerite Higgins, each claiming that Camels offered them relaxation or pleasure. Additionally, each ad includes a funny cartoon portraying a man or a woman with the head of an animal, bringing to life metaphors like “as mad as a wet hen” or “feeling badgered.” By comparing human feelings of annoyance to those felt by animals, Camel is able to drive home how “natural” these feelings are, and insinuate that by smoking a cigarette, humans can rise above their animal counterparts and become productive members of human society.

The ads employ faulty logic to convince readers of Camels’ relaxing attributes. First, the ads claim that Camels provide smokers with pleasure. Then, they claim that “it’s a psychological fact” that “pleasure helps your disposition.” Thus, the reader infers that in order to improve his or her disposition, he or she must smoke Camels.

A decade later, Camel rehashed the same campaign in a new format: The new ads claimed. “Camel Time is pleasure time,” whereas the slogan from the 1950s had been, “For more pure pleasure – have a Camel.” The new campaign also hinted toward an improved “disposition,” claiming that “moments seem to brighten up every time you light one up.”

Sex Sells – img3771

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Tobacco companies know as much as anybody that “sex sells,” and they have no qualms with making use of phallic symbols or with objectifying women to sell their products.

Beginning in the 1880s and lasting well into the 20th century, cigarette manufacturers placed a piece of cardstock inside every pack of cigarettes so the packs would maintain their shape. They soon began including pictures of provocative women in lingerie on the cardstock (as well as images of baseball players, the precursor to collectable baseball cards) in order to attract more men into purchasing the cigarettes. Eroticism continued to play a large role in cigarette advertisements, and by the late 1930s, pin-up girls were frequently used in cigarette advertisements to appeal further to male audiences.

As the advertising business matured over time, so too did its foray into selling products through sex, at times blatantly obvious, and in other moments alluringly subtle. The 1968 Tiparillo advertisements, in the “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo” campaign, are shameless in their objectification of women, featuring scantily clad or nearly nude models baring absurd amounts of cleavage. Other tobacco ads exploit the “sex sells” market through innuendo and subliminal messaging. Many ads use phallic imagery to associate tobacco products with masculinity and virility. A 1997 ad for Celestino cigars, for example, features a man holding a giant surfboard, which on the surface resembles a giant cigar; closer inspection reveals that the surfboard/cigar duo is also a phallic symbol, allying the cigar brand with extreme masculinity. Similarly subtle, an ad for Greys cigarettes, from the late 1930s, displays a depiction of a man with a drooping cigarette “before smoking Greys,” and then with an erect cigarette “after smoking greys.” Additionally, the man, who had previously been bald, has managed to grow a full head of hair after smoking the cigarette! An L&M ad from 1962 follows the same tactics; a man’s cigarette sticks straight up as he glances over at a woman, who eyes his cigarette as she sensuously takes one of her own. The slogan below the image reads, “When a cigarette means a lot…”

Perhaps the most recognizable recent campaign to use such techniques is the Joe Camel campaign, which lasted up until 1999; Joe Camel’s face is drawn to resemble a scrotum. More recently still, 21st century Silk Cut admen were masters of subliminal messaging. One Silk Cut ad, for example, features a piece of silk with a hole cut out, a can with a sharp point aimed directly at the hole, and a torn piece of silk hanging off the can’s point to indicate insertion has been made.

This theme merely grazes the surface of the extent to which tobacco advertisements rely on sex to sell their products.

It's Fun to be Fooled – img3806

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In 1933, R. J. Reynolds released an ad campaign for Camel cigarettes which directly attacked Lucky Strikes’ popular “It’s Toasted” campaign. Without mentioning Lucky Strikes by name, the Camel ads insinuated that Lucky Strike’s ads “fool” consumers with “illusions,” while Camel provides its consumers with “no tricks, just costlier tobaccos” (a claim which was itself later contested by the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] as “inaccurate, false, and misleading”).

In this Camel campaign, each ad reveals a magician’s secret, describing both the illusion and the explanation behind the illusion. Then, the ad compares this magician’s illusion to a “trick of cigarette advertising.” Some of the advertising tricks that Camel mentions include “the illusion of ‘coolness’” and, alluding more directly to the “It’s Toasted” campaign, “the illusion that mildness in a cigarette comes from mysterious processes of manufacture.”

Of course, Camel’s accusation is true to a degree: cigarette advertising does employ many tricks; however, this campaign runs the risk of bringing Camels’ own tricks out from behind the curtain. Indeed, this is a case of “the pot calling the kettle black.” Over the next decade and beyond, the FTC charged the majority of popular cigarette makers with cease-and-desist orders for false and misleading advertising, including R.J. Reynolds. By 1942, the FTC cited a slurry of Camel’s claims as “inaccurate, false, and misleading,” including the following: “smoking of Camels aid digestion, fortifies good health, and has been discovered by a famous research laboratory to restore body energy, […] to keep in athletic condition one should smoke as many Camels as he likes, that Camels helped a racing car driver win a race and golf champion a grueling contest, that Camels would not shorten the wind or irritate the throat but would protect against nerve strain, and asserted that only the choicest tobaccos were used to make Camels” (1). The latter is the most interesting in this case, when the FTC labels false the very claim Camel had boasted as containing “no tricks.”

“FTC complaint hits cigarette claims” 8 Aug 1942. The New York Times

It's Fun to be Fooled – img3807

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In 1933, R. J. Reynolds released an ad campaign for Camel cigarettes which directly attacked Lucky Strikes’ popular “It’s Toasted” campaign. Without mentioning Lucky Strikes by name, the Camel ads insinuated that Lucky Strike’s ads “fool” consumers with “illusions,” while Camel provides its consumers with “no tricks, just costlier tobaccos” (a claim which was itself later contested by the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] as “inaccurate, false, and misleading”).

In this Camel campaign, each ad reveals a magician’s secret, describing both the illusion and the explanation behind the illusion. Then, the ad compares this magician’s illusion to a “trick of cigarette advertising.” Some of the advertising tricks that Camel mentions include “the illusion of ‘coolness’” and, alluding more directly to the “It’s Toasted” campaign, “the illusion that mildness in a cigarette comes from mysterious processes of manufacture.”

Of course, Camel’s accusation is true to a degree: cigarette advertising does employ many tricks; however, this campaign runs the risk of bringing Camels’ own tricks out from behind the curtain. Indeed, this is a case of “the pot calling the kettle black.” Over the next decade and beyond, the FTC charged the majority of popular cigarette makers with cease-and-desist orders for false and misleading advertising, including R.J. Reynolds. By 1942, the FTC cited a slurry of Camel’s claims as “inaccurate, false, and misleading,” including the following: “smoking of Camels aid digestion, fortifies good health, and has been discovered by a famous research laboratory to restore body energy, […] to keep in athletic condition one should smoke as many Camels as he likes, that Camels helped a racing car driver win a race and golf champion a grueling contest, that Camels would not shorten the wind or irritate the throat but would protect against nerve strain, and asserted that only the choicest tobaccos were used to make Camels” (1). The latter is the most interesting in this case, when the FTC labels false the very claim Camel had boasted as containing “no tricks.”

“FTC complaint hits cigarette claims” 8 Aug 1942. The New York Times

It's Fun to be Fooled – img3808

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In 1933, R. J. Reynolds released an ad campaign for Camel cigarettes which directly attacked Lucky Strikes’ popular “It’s Toasted” campaign. Without mentioning Lucky Strikes by name, the Camel ads insinuated that Lucky Strike’s ads “fool” consumers with “illusions,” while Camel provides its consumers with “no tricks, just costlier tobaccos” (a claim which was itself later contested by the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] as “inaccurate, false, and misleading”).

In this Camel campaign, each ad reveals a magician’s secret, describing both the illusion and the explanation behind the illusion. Then, the ad compares this magician’s illusion to a “trick of cigarette advertising.” Some of the advertising tricks that Camel mentions include “the illusion of ‘coolness’” and, alluding more directly to the “It’s Toasted” campaign, “the illusion that mildness in a cigarette comes from mysterious processes of manufacture.”

Of course, Camel’s accusation is true to a degree: cigarette advertising does employ many tricks; however, this campaign runs the risk of bringing Camels’ own tricks out from behind the curtain. Indeed, this is a case of “the pot calling the kettle black.” Over the next decade and beyond, the FTC charged the majority of popular cigarette makers with cease-and-desist orders for false and misleading advertising, including R.J. Reynolds. By 1942, the FTC cited a slurry of Camel’s claims as “inaccurate, false, and misleading,” including the following: “smoking of Camels aid digestion, fortifies good health, and has been discovered by a famous research laboratory to restore body energy, […] to keep in athletic condition one should smoke as many Camels as he likes, that Camels helped a racing car driver win a race and golf champion a grueling contest, that Camels would not shorten the wind or irritate the throat but would protect against nerve strain, and asserted that only the choicest tobaccos were used to make Camels” (1). The latter is the most interesting in this case, when the FTC labels false the very claim Camel had boasted as containing “no tricks.”

“FTC complaint hits cigarette claims” 8 Aug 1942. The New York Times

No Cigarette Hangover – img3819

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In these ads for Philip Morris cigarettes, Philip Morris claims that smokers can avoid “cigarette hangover” when smoking the PM brand. By creating this benign side effect of smoking, and offering a simple solution, Philip Morris evades more serious health concerns.

Ten years prior, Old Gold had dabbled with the “cigarette hangover” concept, claiming “no more smoking hangover” in a 1937 advertisement. A testimonial in the ad explained, “Now that I smoke fresh Old Golds I don’t wake up with that ‘cottony’ feeling in my mouth.” Philip Morris described the symptoms as “that stale, smoked-out taste in your mouth – that dry, tight feeling in your throat.”

Many ads of the campaign read: “…so smooth and mellow you can smoke them in any number without cigarette hangover” (1938).

Calms your Nerves – img19591

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In a prime example of marketing wizardry, tobacco advertisements have simultaneously presented cigarettes as both sedatives and stimulants. Ads worked to convince consumers that cigarettes would calm the smoker when he felt nervous, or pep him up when he felt sluggish. This theme features ad campaigns from a variety of cigarette brands, all proclaiming cigarettes to be sedatives. Many of the ads in this theme are for Camel cigarettes, and claimed that only Camel cigarettes “do not upset your nerves.” This claim implied that other cigarette brands are stimulants and do cause people to get the jitters, but Camels are the exception. Though Camel was prolific in their anti-nerves campaigns in the 1930s, they were certainly not the only tobacco brand to approach this advertising technique, nor the first.

In 1918, Girard cigars claimed that their cigar “never gets on your nerves,” a slogan which Camel also used over a decade later in 1933. Girard’s ads pose questions that many readers would invariably answer in the affirmative: “Are you easily irritated? Easily annoyed? Do children get on your nerves? Do you fly off the handle and then feel ashamed of yourself?” The ad forces most readers to question their behavior and convinces them that they need intervention, when prior to reading the ad, they felt nothing was wrong. The ad posits Girard as at least one thing that won’t cause anxiety and as the solution to the problems people never even knew they had.

Other ads positioned also their products as relaxing agents. A 1929 ad for Taretyon cigarettes claims that “Tareytons are the choice of busy, active people. People whose work requires steady nerves.” Similarly, many of Camel’s ads explain that people in high pressure situations can’t afford to feel nervous or to have shaky hands (sharpshooters, circus flyers, salesmen, surgeons). The ads don’t provide the reader with the opportunity to think that avoiding cigarettes altogether would be an option if they were worried about the nervous effects of smoking; Instead, Camels are presented as the only “solution” to the nicotine-jolt problem. The ads target a wide variety of audiences, both male and female, young and old, daredevil and housewife. Camel ensures that everyone feels the need for a Camel fix, siting common fidgets like drumming one’s fingers, tapping one’s foot, jingling one’s keys, and even doodling as signs that someone has “jangled nerves.”

Still more brands took the anti-anxiety approach in their ads. In 1933, Lucky Strike advertised that “to anxiety – I bring relief, to distress – I bring courage.” One such ad features a man sitting nervously in the waiting room of a dentist’s office as a woman offers him a Lucky Strike to ease his nerves. Similarly, a 1929 ad for Spud cigarettes poses the question: “Do you smoke away anxiety?” Presuming you answered yes, the ad explains, “then you’ll appreciate Spud’s greater coolness.” The 1938 “Let up – Light up a Camel” campaign explained that “people with work to do break nerve tension” with Camels, and that “smokers find that Camel’s costlier tobaccos are soothing to the nerves!” Even 20 years later, in 1959, King Sano cigars advertised that “the man under pressure owes himself the utter luxury of the new ‘soft smoke’ King Sano.”

Also of note, many of these ads claim that Camels provide their smokers with “healthy nerves,” misleadingly implying that Camel cigarettes themselves are healthy.

Mass Marketing Begins – img0521

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As the threat of tobacco prohibition from temperance unions settled down in the late 1920s, tobacco companies became bolder with their approach to targeting women through advertisements, openly targeting women in an attempt to broaden their market and increase sales. The late 1920s saw the beginnings of major mass marketing campaigns designed specifically to target women. “Cigarette manufacturers have for a long time subtly suggested in some of their advertising that women smoked,” a New York Times article from 1927 reveals. But Chesterfield’s 1927 “Blow some my way” campaign was transparent to the public even at the time of printing, and soon after, the campaigns became less and less subtle. In 1928, Lucky Strike introduced its “Cream of the Crop” campaign, featuring celebrity testimonials from female smokers, and then followed with “Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet” in 1929, designed to prey on female insecurities about weight and diet. As the decade turned, many cigarette brands came out of the woodwork and joined in on unabashedly targeting women by illustrating women smoking, rather than hinting at it.

Let's Smoke Girls – img0546

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Before the First World War, smoking was associated with the “loose morals” of prostitutes and wayward women. Clever marketers managed to turn this around in the 1920s and 1930s, latching onto women’s liberation movements and transforming cigarettes into symbols of women’s independence. In 1929, as part of this effort, the American Tobacco Company organized marches of women carrying “Torches of Freedom” (i.e., cigarettes) down New York’s 5th Avenue to emphasize their emancipation. The tobacco industry also sponsored training sessions to teach women how to smoke, and competitions for most delicate smoker. Many of the advertisements targeting women throughout the decades have concentrated on women’s empowerment. Early examples include “I wish I were a man” so I could smoke (Velvet, 1912), while later examples like “You’ve come a long way baby” (Virginia Slims) were more clearly exploitive of the Women’s Liberation Movement. It is interesting to note that the Marlboro brand, famous for its macho “Marlboro Man,” was for decades a woman’s cigarette (“Mild as May” with “Ivory tips to protect the lips”) before it underwent an abrupt sex change in 1954. Only 5 percent of American women smoked in 1923 versus 12 percent in 1932 and 33 percent in 1965 (the peak year). Lung cancer was still a rare disease for women in the 1950s, though by the year 2000 it was killing nearly 70,000 women per year. Cancer of the lung surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death among women in 1987.

High Fashion – img0580

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Throughout the decades, tobacco companies have capitalized on fashion, glamour and beauty to market their products to women. Most notably, in 1934, Lucky Strike staged a “Green Ball” at New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria, with every intention of making green, the then-color of a Lucky Strike pack, more fashionable for women so they would buy Luckies; fashion designers, reporters, socialites and many other influential people in the fashion world were in attendance at the Green Ball, while everyone thought some mysterious benefactor hosted the event. The 1920s saw the fashionable yet daring woman emerge in cigarette ads, while the 1930s saw a glamorous beauty, dripping in luxury. The Great Depression was the impetus for this latter type of woman, dressed in a ball gown, fur and gloves and jewels. The everyday woman could live vicariously, or might feel that she could adopt some of that luxury for herself by smoking the brand of cigarette advertised. Often, tobacco companies turned to chic celebrities to hawk their products, relying on their trendsetting ways to make the sell. Fashion trends change, but tobacco companies’ addiction to manipulating women through these trends has not changed. The models in Virginia Slims advertisements of the 1980s wore fashions which scream ‘80s, and the women in the ads of today can be seen in anything from trendy resort wear in a tropical setting to skin-revealing club wear. Whatever the case, tobacco companies know that if a woman sees a model in an ad who looks attractive, she will want to emulate her.

You're So Smart – img0637

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The “You’re so smart to smoke Parliaments” campaign works on at least three levels. By using the words “so smart,” the ad (1) works to appeal to a buyer’s intelligence, (2) refers to Parliaments as the “smart,” safe choice, and (3) plays on the double-meaning of “smart” as also fashionable and chic. This all-encompassing word leant the campaign staying power. The health claims which come across through the “smart” campaign are reflective of the advertised recessed filter unique to Parliaments, which the aid claims to ensure that “only the flavor touches your lips,” rather than any harsh chemicals. By appealing to the buyer’s intelligence and fashion sense, the ad goes further than health claims, dabbling in the realms of self esteem and appearance, well-known techniques used by advertisements to manipulate women.

Brides with Butts – img0649

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In their advertisements, tobacco companies have long featured brides, marriage, and the myriad symbols associated thereof. Brides and their white wedding gowns represent purity, one of the adjectives with which cigarettes love to associate themselves; filters, low tar, and purity are all marketing ploys tobacco companies utilize to make cigarettes appear safer and healthier. Femininity, elegance, and luxury are also highlighted in these ads. Additionally, cigarette advertisements which utilize the marriage angle attempt to imbue their products with a sense of tradition, custom, and sometimes even rite of passage.

Couples in Love – img0680

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Love and cigarettes, marriage and cigarettes, sex and cigarettes? Nothing is off limits in these tobacco advertisements which feature couples in love. The advertisements work cigarettes into the everyday lives of couples, seemingly bringing couples closer together or enhancing their sexual connection. In the 1920s and 1930s, women were pictured as part of a couple so as to lessen the shock value of women smoking. However, as times changed and women smoking became widely acknowledged, men and women continued to show up together in cigarette advertisements in romantic scenarios. These advertisements were particularly effective at targeting women, capitalizing on the stereotypical female desire to find a husband or be taken care of by a man. Often, however, these ads were also effective for men, who would imagine, after seeing one of the ads, that a woman sensuously falls into a man’s arms with just the whiff of a cigarette or the mingling of fumes.

Keep Kissable – img0732

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The ads In Old Gold’s “Keep Kissable” campaign claim that Old Gold cigarettes lack “breath-tainting” and teeth-staining properties, making them the perfect choice for a kiss. Many of the ads in this campaign targeted women who were concerned that cigarettes would cause yellowed teeth and bad breath. The ads attempted to dispel these fears in women by urging them to “keep kissable” with Old Golds. P. Lorillard employed pseudoscience in the copy text, claiming that the “greasy artificial flavorings” in most cigarettes are the cause of yellowed teeth, rather than the actual source – nicotine. Old Gold claims that their “100% natural” flavors allow their cigarettes to prevent the teeth-staining associated with smoking, though this claim is entirely false. Additionally, Old Gold cigarettes are described in this ad as comparable to “honey to your throat,” and “not a cough in a carload,” indicating that the “natural flavors” are also supposed to suppress the damage smoking has on your throat – another entirely false claim.

Objectifying Women – img0744

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Tobacco companies know as much as the next guy – sex sells – and they have no qualms with objectifying women to sell their product. As early as the 1930s, cigarette advertisements featured sexy women to lure men to the brand, and by the late 1930s, pin-up girls were frequently used on cigarette advertisements to appeal to male audiences. The Tiparillo advertisements in the “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo…: campaign (1968) are shameless in their objectification of women, with the models showing cleavage (plus) as well as intense eye contact. As expected, recent advertisements of the 1990s and 2000s are no better, as such images become more commonplace in modern times. These ads target youth explicitly. Though they primarily attract young men, they also manipulate young women into believing that a certain brand of cigarette might make her sexier and more attractive to men.

Lady's Cigars – img0789

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When one thinks of a cigar, one doesn’t usually think of a woman. In fact, cigarettes were originally created as a woman’s version of a cigar, since cigars were considered completely unladylike. Tobacco companies stretched the boundaries of advertisements with this series of ads targeting women or using the feminine mystique in selling their cigar products. Cigar ads featuring women are usually highly sexualized or romanticized, or speak to women’s liberation movements. Generally, they objectify women in order to advertise cigars to men.

Women's Liberation – img0797

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One of the most common techniques tobacco companies employ in order to target women is women’s liberation. Specifically, these advertisements show a woman in a position of power over a man, while being careful to keep the power-play light, carefree, and a bit flirtatious. The ads are prudent, hoping not to offend anyone while appearing to “take sides,” so to speak, with women. Often, these ads distract from the position of power Big Tobacco itself holds over both sexes, by pitting women against men instead of against Big Tobacco.

Women in Sports – img7323

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Tobacco companies often solicited endorsements from athletes to emphasize healthy, active lifestyles and tie these lifestyles in with their cigarettes. Additionally, well-known athletes could give the same kind of celebrity appeal as singers and actors, especially for teens and young adults. Sometimes, tobacco companies showed every-day people playing sports to create a connection among health, energy, athleticism, and cigarettes. Female athletes were highlighted as early as the 1920s (in this collection, a 1927 advertisement from Lucky Strike features a woman playing tennis with a man). Many of the female athletes who were selected to endorse cigarette brands played sports that could be considered feminine: tennis and table tennis, ice skating, swimming and diving, golf, and skiing. Some of the modern ads feature women playing more “manly” sports, like basketball or football, with their boyfriends, or show a woman playing billiards in an attempt to entice young men to the brand.

Early Years – img7528

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In the early 1900s, it was not considered socially acceptable for women to smoke in public, but according to a newspaper article from Aug 9, 1919, “Smoking in public by women has ceased to shock for ten years past.” One New York Times article from October 7, 1919, cited British women as having a “large share in doubling cigarette sales since 1914.” The article claims that some women “can’t even hang out the washing unless they have a cigarette in their mouths.” As early as 1915, Cambridge University was polling parents as to whether its female students should be allowed to smoke on campus. At the time, women were clearly interested in smoking, but it was not accepted by the entirety of the general public.

It was becoming clear that women were beginning to make up quite a bit of the market share for many cigarette brands, and it was only a matter of time before the brands started targeting women directly with advertising. Another 1919 article, this one written by a woman in the Daily Mirror, states that “most women smoke for effect: merely to be up-to-date” and to avoid the “horror of being thought to harbour old-fashioned ideas nowadays.” If it was a look women were after, the tobacco companies capitalized on this trend, featuring beautiful, glamorous, “up-to-date” women smoking cigarettes in their print advertisements, furthering the prevalence of the image of the modern smoking woman and making it seem more and more like smoking was “something that everybody does.”

The 1920s saw a boom in advertisements marketing cigarettes to women, though the tobacco companies feared the prohibition activists who were prominent from 1920-1933. Indeed, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was displeased when women began smoking in public, and in 1920 the WCTU stated that it would work to prevent women and youth from smoking. In 1921, prohibition groups were appealing to state governments to pass anti-tobacco legislation, hoping for an ultimate constitutional amendment banning tobacco. It wasn’t until after these prohibition activists became less of a threat that the major mass marketing efforts by tobacco companies targeting women would begin. However, well before these major mass marketing efforts, tobacco ads targeting women were present – though more subtle – marketing cigarette smoking as a method of evoking femininity or of providing an alluring fragrance for women.

Pretty in Pink – img10254

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Tobacco companies are often extremely creative in their advertising techniques; however, sometimes the techniques they employ are excruciatingly obvious. In targeting women, for example, many cigarette brands turn to the classic feminine shade of pink in order to clearly communicate a certain cigarette is intended for women’s use. Pink cigarettes and ads which incorporate the color pink target a younger demographic of females. Camel No. 9, for example, uses a hot pink color palette, which accents the cigarette pack, the pack’s interior foil, the cigarettes themselves, and all of the print advertisements for the product. The ads in this theme all demonstrate the prevalence of pink in ads marketing women’s cigarettes. From Russian “Glamour” ads to American “Misty” ads, pink is everywhere. One Virginia Slims ad from 1995 works to reclaim pink as a color of power for women, with the phrase “Pretty in Pink doesn’t make you a pushover” printed next to a woman in a pink mini-dress preparing to hop on her motorcycle.

Eve – img0984

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Liggett & Myers created Eve cigarettes in 1971 as a direct competitor of Philip Morris’ Virginia Slims, which had been introduced three years prior in 1968. However, advertising for Eve took a different approach than Virginia Slims. Whereas Virginia Slims were marketed as the cigarette for the empowered, liberated woman, Eve was marketed as the cigarette for the feminine woman. In the 20th century, both the Eve cigarettes themselves and the packages containing them featured a floral design, prompting some ads to describe the cigarette as having “Flowers on the outside. Flavor on the inside.” As of 2002, the floral pattern has been replaced by butterflies, an updated graphic that appears less old fashioned and would appeal to younger audiences.

Advertising for Eve urges women to embrace their femininity. Like Virginia Slims, Eve hopes to attract women by harnessing the power of fashion. Many print advertisements across the decades portray women in fashionable, ladylike outfits, notably more conservative than their Virginia Slims counterparts. Some Eve slogans made direct reference to physical appearance, such as “Farewell to the ugly cigarette pack” (1970s), and “Eves of the world you are beautiful” (1970s). Both slogans tell women that they will be beautiful if they smoke a beautiful cigarette. Like Virginia Slims, Eve cigarettes themselves are longer and narrower than average cigarettes, a clear reference to a woman’s figure. A slim, slender figure is often presented as more desirable in women’s fashion magazines and by models in the fashion industry. Thus Eve joins Virginia Slims in providing a subliminal, indirect message that their brand will result in its smokers obtaining or maintaining a slim figure. Eve also takes advantage of its extra length (commonly 120 mm as opposed to the 85 mm of an average cigarette); a 1980s slogan, “every inch a lady,” drives home the connection between long cigarettes and sophisticated, ladylike women.

Capri – img9936

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Brown & Williamson launched Capri as the first ever “super slim” cigarette in 1987, targeting young women. Traditional cigarettes have a circumference of 25 mm, slim cigarettes 23 mm, and Capri Super Slims only 17 mm. Advertisements for Capri follow the logic that slimmer is better, apparently influenced by the assumption that women prefer to be physically slim, since a slender figure is often presented as more desirable in women’s fashion magazines and by models in the fashion industry. Slogans such as “The slimmest slim in town” (1988) and “There is no slimmer way to smoke” (1994) provides a not-so-subliminal message that by smoking Capri cigarettes, consumers can count on obtaining or maintaining a slimmer figure than everyone else.

Max – img9967

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Max, a cigarette brand for women featuring cigarettes 120 mm in length, was introduced in 1975 by Lorillard on the heels of Liggett & Myers’ Eve 120s (1973) and R.J. Reynolds’ More cigarettes (1974). Featuring 20 mm of extra length beyond the 100 mm “king size” (which is already significantly longer than the 85 mm of a traditional cigarette), Max advertised a fashionable, sexy, “healthier” cigarette.

Ads from the 1970s featured stylish women who explained, “The longer they are, the fewer I smoke.” Because the statement is completely false, the woman goes on to say, “It’s wacky, but it works. Max 120’s take longer to smoke so you don’t light up as often.” The truth of the matter is that the human body will seek a certain amount of nicotine to feed addiction, regardless of the length of the cigarette.

Other Max ads marketed the brand as sexy, comparing Max cigarettes to an attractive man named Max: “Say hello to Max,” ads from 1975 read. “Hello long, lean and delicious.” Another ad urges the consumer to “Make friends with Max.” Still, other ads concentrated on the fashionable aspect of the cigarette, much like most women’s cigarettes. These ads, which reached into the 1980s, presented the cigarette as an accessory for any outfit, featuring fashion-forward models under a slogan advising consumers to “Wear a Max today.” Further, these “Wear a Max” ads spoke to feminine concerns with beauty, claiming that the cigarette is “long, lean” and “great looking,” insinuating that by smoking an attractive cigarette, the smoker will be attractive, too.

Marlboro – img9979

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This is an example of one of the earlier Marlboro ads, which marketed Marlboro cigarettes as being “Mild as May” to attract a female audience. This advertisement takes the next step by actually illustrating a fashionable woman smoking elegantly. In large letters, this ad mentions that Marlboros have “Ivory Tips” to “protect the lips,” targeting women who are concerned with protecting their lipstick. The woman pictured wears very dark lipstick, but her absurdly large cigarette is clean from any lipstick stains. Marlboro, the brand associated today with the rugged manliness of the “Marlboro Man” cowboy of later decades, was actually introduced to the market in 1927 as a woman’s cigarette. It wasn’t until 1954, after the war, that Marlboro underwent a sex change to compete with the three other top cigarette manufacturers.

Smoking Guns – img12148

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In a prime example of marketing wizardry, tobacco advertisements have simultaneously presented cigarettes as both sedatives and stimulants. Ads worked to convince consumers that cigarettes would calm the smoker when he felt nervous, or pep him up when he felt sluggish. This theme features ad campaigns from a variety of cigarette brands, all proclaiming cigarettes to be sedatives. Many of the ads in this theme are for Camel cigarettes, and claimed that only Camel cigarettes “do not upset your nerves.” This claim implied that other cigarette brands are stimulants and do cause people to get the jitters, but Camels are the exception. Though Camel was prolific in their anti-nerves campaigns in the 1930s, they were certainly not the only tobacco brand to approach this advertising technique, nor the first.

In 1918, Girard cigars claimed that their cigar “never gets on your nerves,” a slogan which Camel also used over a decade later in 1933. Girard’s ads pose questions that many readers would invariably answer in the affirmative: “Are you easily irritated? Easily annoyed? Do children get on your nerves? Do you fly off the handle and then feel ashamed of yourself?” The ad forces most readers to question their behavior and convinces them that they need intervention, when prior to reading the ad, they felt nothing was wrong. The ad posits Girard as at least one thing that won’t cause anxiety and as the solution to the problems people never even knew they had.

Other ads positioned also their products as relaxing agents. A 1929 ad for Taretyon cigarettes claims that “Tareytons are the choice of busy, active people. People whose work requires steady nerves.” Similarly, many of Camel’s ads explain that people in high pressure situations can’t afford to feel nervous or to have shaky hands (sharpshooters, circus flyers, salesmen, surgeons). The ads don’t provide the reader with the opportunity to think that avoiding cigarettes altogether would be an option if they were worried about the nervous effects of smoking; Instead, Camels are presented as the only “solution” to the nicotine-jolt problem. The ads target a wide variety of audiences, both male and female, young and old, daredevil and housewife. Camel ensures that everyone feels the need for a Camel fix, siting common fidgets like drumming one’s fingers, tapping one’s foot, jingling one’s keys, and even doodling as signs that someone has “jangled nerves.”

Still more brands took the anti-anxiety approach in their ads. In 1933, Lucky Strike advertised that “to anxiety – I bring relief, to distress – I bring courage.” One such ad features a man sitting nervously in the waiting room of a dentist’s office as a woman offers him a Lucky Strike to ease his nerves. Similarly, a 1929 ad for Spud cigarettes poses the question: “Do you smoke away anxiety?” Presuming you answered yes, the ad explains, “then you’ll appreciate Spud’s greater coolness.” The 1938 “Let up – Light up a Camel” campaign explained that “people with work to do break nerve tension” with Camels, and that “smokers find that Camel’s costlier tobaccos are soothing to the nerves!” Even 20 years later, in 1959, King Sano cigars advertised that “the man under pressure owes himself the utter luxury of the new ‘soft smoke’ King Sano.”

Also of note, many of these ads claim that Camels provide their smokers with “healthy nerves,” misleadingly implying that Camel cigarettes themselves are healthy.

World War II – img5564

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A unique quality of both WWI and WWII armies was that a majority of their combatants were not professional soldiers but rather citizen conscripts1. Thus, habits the common soldiers picked up on the battlefield, such as smoking, were brought home after the war’s end3. WWII soldiers used cigarettes similarly to their WWI forbearers, smoking to escape the stress of battle and steady their nerves1. Soldiers had been rationed 4 cigarettes a day during WWI. In WWII authorities also saw tobacco as a necessity to the maintenance of fighting men, and actually added cigarettes into their daily K-ration before toilet paper2. K-rations provided a four pack per meal, meaning soldiers were issues a total of 12 cigarettes per day. Soldiers could also buy discounted twenty-packs at the army post exchange (PX) stations2. Hence, cigarettes were made readily available to men in the armed forces.
The army didn’t necessarily use one brand for rations, instead cigarettes came in sample packs of different brands, with the most common being Chesterfields2. Tobacco companies specifically targeted the troops stating that they used “personalities associated with the war” such as test pilot “Red” Hulse4. They also sent “cigarettes by millions to GI’s overseas” claiming that the Camel brand was “First in the Service.”4 WWII cigarette adverts focused on themes of smoking as patriotic, promoting solidarity between armed forces, relieving stress, increasing battle performance, encouraging romantic fidelity, and a connection to home. Even after the war was over, WWII continued to be used as an advertising strategy due to its role as a common relatable event among the cigarette consumers of the time.

1. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240820.php
2. http://www.kration.info/cigarettes-and-matches.html
3. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30034360
4. https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#id=ksfy0061

Space – img20891

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In 1949, on the heels of Lucky Strike’s 1931 ad campaign, “Do You Inhale?” and Philip Morris’ 1942 campaign, “Inhale? Sure, all smokers do,” P. Lorillard released a campaign for Embassy urging smokers to “Inhale [Embassy] to your heart’s content!” Lorillard claimed that Embassy’s extra length provides “extra protection.” The faulty concept was that because the cigarette was longer, it was able to better filter out toxins, since it took more time for the smoke to reach the smoker’s throat due to the long length through which it had to travel. In 1950, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigators had decided that king-size cigarettes, like Embassy, contained “more tobacco and therefore more harmful substances” than are found in an ordinary cigarette.

Lorillard’s particular choice of cliché, “to your heart’s content,” was misleading at best . The phrase was meant to impart a sense of happiness and healthfulness. Of course, inhaling would not have made anyone’s heart content; Instead, smoking has been recognized as a major cause of coronary artery disease, responsible for an estimated 20% of deaths from heart disease in the United States. Most ironically in the context of this advertisement campaign, a smokers’ risk of developing heart disease is thought to greatly increase as his or her cigarette intake increases.

World War I – img45510

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WWI was the major event of the twentieth century that brought cigarette use to the forefront of tobacco use. Before WWI there were many popular anti-tobacco movements led by progressive religious organizations such as National Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) who advocated for policies banning tobacco sales1. Cigarette prohibition laws were even passed in several states such as Indiana, Nebraska, and Idaho1. This was all changed with the advent of WWI1.
Fighting in WWI was static, with soldiers switching between long waiting periods to battling through day-long artillery barrages in trenches filled with death and carnage2. For fighting soldiers smoking became a coping mechanism to handle both times of stress and boredom2. Leaders such as General John Pershing saw cigarettes as necessary to troop morale with Pershing claiming that the importance of tobacco to the war was equal to that of bullets2.
Pipe smoking had been more popular at the onset of the war as it was seen as more masculine with many armies even rationing loose-leaf pipe tobacco3. However, pipes were easily broken during battle and loose-leaf tobacco near impossible to keep dry in the trenches3. Thus, the convenient transportable design of the pocket cigarette made it the signature tobacco product of WWI soldiers3.
The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) were at first supplied with cigarettes through canteens2. Canteens were stations that sold non-rationed goods and were manned by civilian organizations2. Cigarette companies soon developed ads in both newspapers and magazines to convince soldiers to buy their brand.1 Such advertisements often included patriotic themes to suit wartime customers1. These include portraying cigarette brands as strengthening bond between Allied troops, individual soldiers, and their families and sweethearts back home.
It was General March who would put canteens back under army control and create the official policy of rationing soldiers four ready-made cigarettes per day2. This ration would increase over time and by the Second World War soldiers had access to 12 to 28 army-provided cigarettes per day2. As men returned from army service once the Great War was over they brought their smoking habit with them1. The anti-tobacco movement lost following with the return of these veterans who were known to argue, “If cigaret[te]s were good enough for us while we were fighting in France, why aren’t they good enough for us in our own homes?”1 This initial popularity of the cigarette with the WWI generation would continue throughout the decades, further catalyzed during WWII before culminating into the smoking epidemics of the 1950s and 60s1.
1. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2000/complete_report/pdfs/chapter2.pdf
2. Bius, Joel. “The Damn Y Man in WWI: Service, Perception, and Cigarettes.” The YMCA at War: Collaboration and Conflict during the World Wars, Lexington Books 2018.
3. https://pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com/2014/06/27/wwi-part-5-tobacco-in-the-trenches/

Kamel Modern – img5937

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Marlboro has historically been the leading cigarette brand among youth, while Camel consistently pushes forward creative advertising concepts to gain youth market share from Marlboro and hook teens and young adults. The Red Kamel campaign of 1996 is just one of Camel’s many advertising techniques employed to target the previously uninitiated or new smoker. RJR’s “marketing objectives” with Red Kamel revolved around “adding new cutting edge associations to the Camel brand family” (1).

The Red Kamel brand slogan clearly targeted youth irreverence: “Back After 80 Years For No Good Reason Except They Taste Good” (2). The Kamel brand was first introduced in 1913 and existed until 1936 when R.J. Reynolds replaced it with today’s Camel brand. The limited time “reintroduction” of Red Kamel in 1996 provided a retro-vintage appeal to the brand, and RJR designed the ads to be “innovative—new and old at the same time” (3). An RJR spokesperson explained that the characters portrayed in Red Kamel ads were presented as “interesting, independent people,” indicating that “the type of person who smoked Kamels in the early 1900s would still smoke them today.” The Red Kamel campaign offered RJR a new youth marketing technique to replace the Old Joe Camel campaign which had just been “voluntarily” withdrawn.

One internal document explains that the brand positioning was “lust for living,” and that the product was meant to appear “lustier” as well as “rebellious, adventurous, authentic,” with a “hip, unexpected” style clearly targeting youth markets (4).

 

1. “Red Kamel & Kamel Menthe (Men-Th) Factbook.” 07 Jan 1999. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/tqm72d00

2. “RJR Re-Establishes Red Kamel Brand February 1, 1996 (960201) Statement and Q&A for Response Only.” RJ Reynolds. 01 Feb 1996. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/oml13d00

3. “Red Kamel Is Back!” Caravan. 08 Apr 1996. http://tobaccodocuments.org/nysa_ti_s1/TI56580057.html

4. “1997 (19970000) Business Planning Meeting.” RJ Reynolds. 17 Sept 1996. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xyi72d00

Camel Pleasure to Burn – img5981

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In 1999, R.J. Reynolds developed the Camel “Pleasure to Burn” campaign to target young consumers. The campaign used a cheeky humorous approach to alert consumers of Camel’s modern appeal as well as its long history: The ads featured a painting of a model dressed in “iconic” clothing from a famous decade past, but with a modern twist, like the addition of nose rings for women or stud earrings for men, tattoos, advanced modern technology like headsets and remote controls, and other strange anachronisms. An internal RJR document reveals that this approach “juxtaposes the classic with the contemporary” in the hope of portraying the brand’s “heritage and history as well as the brand’s contemporary relevance and popularity” (1). The technique followed up on the Red Kamel campaign introduced in 1996 which used a similar retro-vintage technique to target youth.

1. “Camel ‘Pleasure to Burn’ Campaign.” RJ Reynolds. Aug 1999. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/aqs97c00

Kool Modern – img6118

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Recent Kool ads are clearly marketed toward a younger, urban demographic. Many of the ads feature models of a variety of ethnicities, and African Americans are particularly targeted. Kool’s advertisements from 2005 used the slogan “Be True,” which urged consumers “be true” to themselves and to “be true” and loyal to the brand. The “Be True” slogan was accompanied by variety of phrases such as “Be Passionate,” “Be Original,” “Be Smooth,” and “Be Bold,” all of which appeal to adolescents and young adults trying to “find themselves” and develop a sense of self. The “Be True” ads largely feature musicians, ranging from guitar players to disc jockeys, and their ethnicities are also noticeably diverse; Asians, African Americans, and Caucasians are all represented in the campaign. Other Kool campaigns from the 2000s, like “House of Menthol,” are more transparently urban-oriented, featuring boom boxes, speaker systems, microphones, graffiti, or skyscrapers. A subset of these ads features the “Kool Mixx” which claims to “celebrate the soundtrack to the streets” through limited edition cigarette packs. Urban youth were clearly a priority.

Kool utilized music in general (particularly jazz music in the 1980s and hip hop in the 2000s) as “an idea or symbol that was truly Pan-Racial… an idea that transcended the color of a smoker’s skin” (1). In a National Sales Meeting speech, a B&W exec explained their music-oriented approach as “not advertising for Blacks or Whites or Hispanics,” but rather as “advertising for everyone who likes music. And how many people do you know who don’t like music?” The exec goes on to explain, “Black smokers are very important to Kool, as you well know, and we could, like Salem, create a separate ad campaign to run in Black publications… with Black models only. But why should we? We don’t have to do that, we’re going to own the world of music, where the subject of Black and White don’t matter because the only real issue is one of pleasure. Musical enjoyment…linked to smoking satisfaction” (2).

1. Cunningham & Walsh Advertising Agency. “Kool: The Revitalization of an Image.” B&W. 1 July 1981. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/leb91d00

2. Lewis, LR. “Speech for National Sales Meeting.” B&W. Oct 1981. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/crj40f00

Winston Modern – img6167

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In 1997, Winston adopted the slogan “No Additives – No Bull,” and claimed that laboratory tests revealed that the top ten non-menthol U.S. brands of cigarettes contain 6% additives, and only 94% tobacco, whereas Winstons are 100% tobacco. This ad technique is surprisingly reminiscent of those used during the infamous “tar derby,” in which cigarette brands competed with one another for the lowest tar and nicotine levels. However, the benefits behind 100% tobacco as opposed to 94% are unclear in this case. Consumers are meant to infer that they somehow benefit from the lack of additives, though a warning box clarifies that “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” In Winston’s case, smoking 100% tobacco is meant to make the smoker feel more “hardcore” or serious – a true smoker – “No Bull.” Other Winston ads from the late ’90s render Winstons as a “Real Cigarette,” presumably as opposed to a sissy cigarette, and some use the simple slogan, “Straight up” a slang term connoting both honest, straight-talk and something that isn’t watered down (as in an alcoholic beverage with no ice). Later Winston ads from 2003 take a similar approach, advising young people to “Leave the Bull Behind” and opt for a “naturally smooth” Winston.

Overseas, particularly in Russia, Winston is owned by Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI). The product “Winston XS” is a superslim cigarette (as in extra-small). Winston XS uses the slogan “Xsence of me,” a word-play on “essence.” The ads for Winston XS are futuristic.

Silk Cut Modern – img6180

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In 1984, the Gallaher Group hired Charles Saatchi’s ad agency to design an innovative ad campaign which would obey U.K. cigarette advertising restrictions while still promoting the Silk Cut product. The new ads, which circulated for over a decade, created a visual pun by utilizing purple silk in the ads, representing the royal purple silk ribbon which seals each Silk Cut cigarette box. (1). The ads flip around the product name and literally Cut through the purple Silk, often in a manner with sexual undertones. For example, the spout of a tin oil can penetrates a hole through a piece of silk, or a trio of open scissors slice through the fabric, the blades like the open legs of can-can dancers. Many of the ads have a surreal effect, and cause the viewer to pause and ponder over them. The viewer puzzles over the image, and when he figures out the joke, he feels rewarded – directly correlating a positive feeling with the brand (2). The viewer also develops an association between the color purple and Silk Cut cigarettes, much like the association between red and Marlboro (3). The ads particularly allow Silk Cut to continue marketing its product in a brutal advertising environment which prohibits such classic methods as using attractive models. Some sources have indicated Silk Cut’s behavior as a warning or lesson to other countries who may attempt restrictions on cigarette advertising in the future; The U.K. restrictions definitely “triggered a burst of creativity that has produced a new genre of subtle, sophisticated ads” and stimulated “unconventional approaches” to advertising (4).

Warner, F. Brandweek. 28 June 1993. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/toy70e00

Bates, A. 30 Jan 1997. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/owm70g00

Statement by Ronald Davis. 30 Sept 1997. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/woo16c00

Parker-Pope, T. 9 Oct 1996. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/jlq08d00

Bizarre Modern – img6253

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New tobacco advertising rules were established in the United Kingdom in 1975. Soon after, multiple British cigarette brands began issuing creative solutions to skirt the restrictions (1). In 1977, Gallaher created a surrealist campaign for its B&H brand in the UK (2). The ads offered a strange, enigmatic image coupled with the Tar Banding and Health Warning baseline that the UK mandated for cigarette ads. These ads were meant to demonstrate the industry’s longevity, due to its intense creativity, even in the face of government restrictions. Soon after B&H’s creative solution, Silk Cut and Marlboro took a similar approach in the UK, eliminating the image of cigarettes from the ads altogether, making tenuous connections to the cigarette brand through “visual puns and color” (3). In 1983, the popular UK brand Rothmans also created 2-page spread ads which relied upon the health warning to demonstrate the advertising was for cigarettes, and included the brand’s classic slogan, “Rothman’s – The greatest name in cigarettes” to communicate branding. The images in the Rothmans ads featured futuristic structures of little apparent connection to the product (4).

In 1994, Benson & Hedges made fun of clean air laws and no-smoking rules with an absurd, tongue-in-cheek campaign. The slogan created a play-on-words between “the length you go to for pleasure” and the extra length of its 100mm cigarette. Print ads for the campaign depicted smokers solving no-smoking rules, such as those existing on airplanes and in museums, with utterly ridiculous or literal interpretations of the laws. For example, one ad asks, “Have you noticed all your smoking flights have been cancelled? For a great smoke, just wing it.” The models are shown sitting on the wing of a plane, enjoying their cigarettes. Philip Morris VP of Corporate Affairs, Ellen Merlo, explained, “We understand the pressures and constraints placed on smokers today, and the length they must go to in order to exercise their right to smoke. Because of the absurdity of some of the situations, we hope everyone will understand that accommodation of smokers and non-smokers alike is a much better alternative” (5). This logic bases itself in the fabricated tobacco industry mantra that smoking is a choice and that there are smoker’s rights. Cigarettes are the only product that when used as directed results in fatal illness. Additionally, there are many factors, especially manipulative advertising, which complicate the meaning of “choice” in starting to smoke.

1. Parker-Pope, T. The Wall Street Journal. 9 Oct 1996. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/sdk93c00

2. BATCo. Aug 1981. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/syt01a99

3. Beatt, A. 1994. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/vib31a99

4. BATCo. May 1983. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/shl11a99

5. Philip Morris. 29 March 1995. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/udm40b00

Salem Modern – img12806

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Recent Salam ads blatantly target youth. Earlier Salem ads (“Salem Spirit”) from the 1980s used a technique largely reminiscent of Newport’s long-lived “Pleasure” campaign, spotlighting groups of young friends having fun in athletic, outdoorsy settings. The 1990s saw Salem’s “Refreshest” campaign, which targeted teens and adolescents with mind-boggling images like a woman relaxing on a pool floatie inside of a grand piano filled with water, or, similarly, a couple lounging in the pick-up of a truck, also filled with water. Some Salem ads from the 2000s feature the slogan, “Stir the senses,” and each ad depicts a model smoking in green, mentholated ecstasy. These scenes appear drug-induced, and even RJR’s description of the ads brings into question recreational drug-inspiration: “One ad pictures a woman extending her arm to interact with two dragonflies that are swirling around a burst of light. Another execution features a man gazing at a swirling green galaxy, with the reflection of the galaxy appearing in his sunglasses”.

Other Salem ads from the 2000s reveal clear youth targeting through a risk-taking appeal with the slogan, “Step Inside. It’s Not What You Expected,” or “There’s More To It.” This slogan invites uninitiated youth to try smoking. For example, one of the ads presents an “underground” party, another presents a couple with an intertwining, extreme tattoo, and a third presents a scantily clad woman riding on the back of a man’s motorcycle – all in urban settings. The ads are complex and difficult to capture in 1-dimensional scans on our Web site, as they often consisted of 4-page spreads. The front cover of the spread would show a “familiar image” with a cutout window revealing a small part of the next page. When the front cover is flipped over, the full spread originally indicated by the cutout is revealed to be “an entirely different design, unexpected by the reader” (2). This type of innovative print advertising is even more appealing to youth.

1. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/gkc87h00

2. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ofi60d00

Lucky Strike Modern – img20950

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When Brown & Williamson took over the Lucky Strike brand in 1995, they sought to reposition the brand toward a younger demographic by introducing the “Spotlight” campaign. The new campaign featured the classic Lucky Strike roundel in full-color super-imposed onto the floor or wall of a scene, while the rest of the environment was depicted in low-saturation colors or even black and white to convey a sense of the classic(1). The campaign incorporated the slogan “An American Original” to convey the product’s authenticity, but juxtaposed this sentiment with modern scenes and models to provide the ads with a sense of timelessness. The campaign targeted “urban, hip, individualistic free-thinking” young males (2) and used models who evoked a “cool, laid back, even arrogant” personality (3).

1. B&W. 13 May 1999. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/dvt12d00

2. Cheyne, S. 4 Nov 1998. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wgo02d00

3. B&W. 24 Apr 1996. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/reb77a00

American Spirit Modern – img45684

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Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company’s advertising strategy targets the young, progressive and environmentally conscious, by promoting the “organic” and “additive free” nature of its tobacco products. Most of the ads for the tobacco company, contain a combination of these key phrases: “100% additive free”, “made with 100% organic tobacco”, “natural tobacco”, and “natural tastes better.”

The Natural American Spirit ads are designed to communicate to the viewer that there is nothing synthetic or artificial about their cigarettes thereby encouraging tobacco users to believe that the cigarette is superior to others. In reality, there is nothing natural or pure about how the tobacco is processed in cigarettes. The ads rely on a palette of mild, pastel shades that are meant to resemble natural dyes. Most ads display one or more cigarette packs surrounded by a rural setting. For example, several of the ads are of a farm where everything, from the roots and soil to a field of bright sunflowers, is crafted from colored tobacco leaves. Others show green pastures or barren farms with a few tobacco sprouts pushing out of the dirt. In one dramatic version, the cigarette packs themselves are sprouting like crops. These pictures draw nostalgia for the once simple way of life.

The tobacco company also heavily advertises itself to environmentalists through buzz word such as “eco-friendly” and “sustainable.” For instance, ad copy for a Natural American Spirit ad says, “”We grow our premium natural tobacco in a responsible, sustainable way through our earth-friendly and organic growing programs…. Protecting the earth is as important to us as it is to you.”

Santa Fe Natural Tobacco company has faced legal action a few times over its advertising claims. In 2000, the Federal Trade Commission filed a deceptive advertising campaign arguing that through their advertisements, “Santa Fe represented that because Natural American Spirit cigarettes contain no additives, smoking them is less hazardous to a smoker's health than smoking otherwise comparable cigarettes that contain additives.” This led to Santa Fe adding the following disclaimer on its packets, “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” A decade later, attorneys general from 33 states and the District of Columbia, reached an agreement requiring Santa Fe to add a disclaimer stating, “Organic tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” The hope was that this warning would alert consumers that natural tobacco does not mean safer tobacco.

However, If popular culture is any clue to how persuasive these disclaimers really are, the answer is no; As recently as 2008, the female protagonist, April (Isla Fisher), in the romantic comedy “Definitely, Maybe” discusses the health benefits she feels she receives when smoking Natural American Spirit cigarettes over Marlboros, the choice of the male protagonist, Will (Ryan Reynolds). When will asks incredulously why she is willing to pay so much for a pack of cigarettes, April responds that “They don't put as many chemicals in them.” He pushes, “So those are healthy cigarettes,” and she says, “Something like that.” She also tells him, as he holds a pack of Marlboros tightly, “They put saltpeter in your cigarettes, which make them burn faster, which make you smoke more.” Clearly, perceived health benefits of natural cigarettes are still rampant in mainstream popular culture, a dangerous misconception.

Marlboro Modern – img46198

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Marlboro’s latest campaign, “Be Marlboro” is replete with youth-oriented images and themes that strongly suggest to young people that they should smoke Marlboro cigarettes.

The “Be Marlboro” campaign was launched in Germany in 2011 and has now spread to more than 50 countries including Brazil, Indonesia, China, Japan, Israel, Russia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In 2013, it was banned from Germany on the grounds that the advertisements were “designed to encourage children as young as 14 years of age to smoke.”

The advertising campaign is filled with images of attractive people taking risks, asserting their freedom, exploring their limits and defying authority. The central message of the ads is that individuals need to shake off their inhibitions to achieve their goals. A good way to do is to “Be Marlboro.” For instance, an ad has the image of a person high on his motorbike (Maybe I will take the challenge”), a profile of a macho man lighting his cigarette (Maybe never lights up the night), an old lady with a raised fist (A Maybe never made history… Don’t be a Maybe), a young woman pressing against a man in an alley (“Maybe never fell in love”), and a guy hopping a chain link fence (“Maybe never found a way”).

Other marketing tactics used by the Be Marlboro campaign include sponsorship of parties and concerts, online promotional videos, exciting point of sale displays and interactive promotional booths.

The use of aspirational imagery and values has been a tactic often used by the tobacco industry to market to youth. Internal tobacco documents by Philip Morris itself describes smoking as an activity that can be “linked to adult initiation, risk taking, bonding with peers and the need for youth to feel like they belong to a group that can partake in an ‘adult activity’.”1,2

In a report by Philip Morris, referred to by the tobacco company as the Archetype Project, it stresses that in advertising the product, the marketing department should stress that “smoking is for people who like to take risks and are not afraid of taboos, using images of an American identity and emphasizing the ritualistic elements of smoking.” It is clear that many ads of the Be Marlboro campaign are reflective of the guidance provided in the Archetype Project.

1. Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. “Maybe You’re The Target.” New Global Marlboro Campaign Found to Target Teens. Retrieved from http://global.tobaccofreekids.org/content/what_we_do/industry_watch/yourethetarget_report.pdf?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=youre-the-target-new-global-marlboro-campaign-found-to-target-teens-pdf-2
2. Levy C. Archetype project summary (internal industry document.) 1991. Bates No. 3990758331/3990758346. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid//zra21j00/pdf.

Murad – img6292

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In the early 1900s, manufactures of Turkish and Egyptian cigarettes tripled their sales and became legitimate competitors to leading brands. The New York-based Greek tobacconist Soterios Anargyros produced the hand-rolled Murad cigarettes, made of pure Turkish tobacco. P. Lorillard acquired the Murad brand in 1911 through the dissolution of the Cigarette Trust, explaining the high quality of the Murad advertisements in the following years.

Murad, along with other Turkish cigarette brands referenced the “Oriental” roots of their Turkish tobacco blends through pack art and advertising images. They also capitalized on the Eastern-inspired fashion trends of the time, which were inspired by the Ballets Russes (1909-1929) and its performance of “Scherazade.” The vibrant colors, luxurious jewels, exoticism and suggestive nature of the images in these advertisements contributed greatly to their appeal.

Women drenched in pearls, jewels and feathers, wearing harem pants or flowing dresses, were paired in the ads with men in expensive suits or in exotic turbans. The Orientalism, exoticism and luxury are evoked through Eastern-inspired garb accentuated the Turkish origins of the tobacco and presented it in an alluring, modern light. Indeed, the women in these ads, in particular, is seen as less of a reflection on Victorian femininity than a fantasy of an exotic enchantress from a foreign land or a modern woman shedding the shackles of Victorian propriety.

Omar – img6362

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In the early 1900s, manufactures of Turkish and Egyptian cigarettes tripled their sales and became legitimate competitors to leading brands. In 1911, The American Tobacco Company introduced Omar, a premium Turkish blend cigarette, in order to compete with other leading Turkish brands like Murad. The cigarette was named after the medieval Persian poet Omar Khayyám, who experienced a resurgence of popularity from 1900-1930 during an “Omariana” fad. Ads for Omar cigarettes referenced Khayyám’s famous poem, The Rubáiyát , and focused on themes of pleasure, leisure, and luxury. Early Omar cigarette ads featured an older, rotund sultan figure, who appears to indulge in a range of life’s pleasures, and a beautiful maiden, referred to as Angel Shape. In some ways, the ads border on stereotypical parodies of Eastern life and culture, yet they speak to the luxurious aspect of Omar cigarettes all the same. Later ads for Omar revealed that “Omar spells Aroma” when Omar is repeated twice: omAR OMAr. This pun speaks to the American Tobacco Company’s desire to extend the relevancy of Omar cigarettes beyond Omariana as the fad slowly died out. Clearly, tobacco companies and their advertising agents are able to create extreme elasticity with their products in order to attract consumers.

Helmar – img6371

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Helmar cigarettes were part of the Turkish and Egyptian cigarette movement of the early 1900s. First produced in 1902 by the Egyptian Ideal Cigarette and Tobacco Works, Helmar was originally named Ramleh. In 1907 when the brand was taken up by S. Anargyros, a subsidiary of The American Tobacco Company, the name was changed in order to avoid confusion with Ramly, a similar cigarette produced by the smaller Mentor Co. in Boston. The name was changed to Helmar, which is simply Ramleh spelled backwards. Unlike most straight-Turkish tobacco cigarettes, Helmar experienced a long life on the market until it was finally discontinued in the mid-1960s.

Mogul – img12459

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In the early 1900s, manufactures of Turkish and Egyptian cigarettes tripled their sales and became legitimate competitors to leading brands. One of the earlier straight-Turkish tobacco cigarettes, Mogul was introduced in 1892 by the New York-based Greek tobacconist Soterios Anargyros. After the dissolution of the Cigarette Trust, P. Lorillard took over the production of Mogul cigarettes. Though likely made of a Turkish blend, Moguls were advertised as “Egyptian Cigarettes.” Many of the Mogul ads presented upper-crust models in Western apparel, positioning the cigarette as a luxury good, while some of the ads incorporated Egyptian motifs or models dressed in Middle Eastern garb.

Deities – img14023

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In the early 1900s, manufactures of Turkish and Egyptian cigarettes tripled their sales and became legitimate competitors to leading brands. The New York-based Greek tobacconist Soterios Anargyros produced the hand-rolled Egyptian Deities cigarettes, and claimed that the higher price was due to the expensive center leaves of the Turkish tobacco plant, known as “Ghyubek.” P. Lorillard acquired the Murad brand in 1911 through the dissolution of the Cigarette Trust, explaining the high quality of the Murad advertisements in the following years. Interestingly, most Egyptian Deities ads did not evoke Eastern exoticism, but rather focused on American and European fashions and luxury. The brand’s slogan also appealed to the high-brow: “People of culture, refinement and education invariably prefer Deities to any other cigarette.” Some ads for the brand did indeed reference Egyptian antiquities and splendor.

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Though certainly capitalizing on the Eastern allure of their name and the popular Turkish and Egyptian cigarette trend, Abdulla cigarettes were available in Egyptian, Turkish, or Virginian blends. They were first produced in London in 1902 by Abdulla & Co., Ltd.. The company was later quietly taken over by Godfrey Phillips in 1927, which was subsequently purchased by Philip Morris International in 1968. Abdulla advertisements focus on glamour and luxury rather than exoticism. This approach allowed them to successfully market all three of their blend varieties, especially the Virginian in later decades. That said, ads like “Abdulla in Arcadia,” which features a veiled woman wearing a turban and excessive jewelry, utilized the stereotypical Eastern fashions to heavily market the Egyptian and Turkish varieties.

Other Early Ads – img14567

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In the early 1900s, manufactures of Turkish and Egyptian style cigarettes tripled their sales and became legitimate competitors to leading brands, inspiring the invention of many new brands, including Camel. These brands often referenced the “Oriental” roots of their Turkish tobacco blends through pack art and advertising images. They also capitalized on the Eastern-inspired fashion trends of the time, which were inspired by the Ballets Russes (1909-1929) and its performance of “Scherazade.” The vibrant colors, luxurious jewels, exoticism and suggestive nature of the images in these advertisements contributed greatly to their appeal. Women drenched in pearls, jewels and feathers, wearing harem pants or flowing dresses, were paired in the ads with men in expensive suits or in exotic turbans. The Orientalism, exoticism and luxury are evoked through Eastern-inspired garb accentuated the Turkish origins of the tobacco and presented it in an alluring, modern light. Indeed, the women in these ads, in particular, is seen as less of a reflection on Victorian femininity than a fantasy of an exotic enchantress from a foreign land or a modern woman shedding the shackles of Victorian propriety.

Other brands of the time, like London Life and Herbert Tareyton shirked the new-fangled Eastern trends in favor of the Victorian propriety of yesteryear. Gentlemen and proper ladies were featured prominently in these ads, and provided an heir of luxury and affluency without the bawdy pleasures of “Orientalism.” Still, most cigarette ads at the time, regardless of approach, involved an overarching theme of glamour and enjoying the finer things in life.

Rameses – img21047

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In 1895, the Stephano Bros. of Philadelphia introduced Rameses II cigarettes, named after the great ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Most of the ads for Rameses II featured Egyptian themes, from images of scarab beetles to depictions of Rameses’ actual temple in Abu Simbel. Other ads for Rameses depicted luxurious vacationing in order to market the large “week-end tins” ideal for short trips. The brand capitalized on aristocracy, glamour and luxury in its advertising. Rameses appear to have been discontinued in the late 1990s.

Fatima – img44460

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In the early 1900s, manufactures of Turkish and Egyptian cigarettes tripled their sales and became legitimate competitors to leading brands. Liggett & Myers’ Fatima cigarettes, named after the common first name for Arabic women, was one of many cigarettes developed at this time which received wide success. The pack art featured a veiled woman, the Turkish crescent moon with stars, and the iron cross, the symbol of the Ottoman empire. Advertising for Fatima was discontinued during the Great Depression. The cigarette received a modern makeover after WWII, becoming a King Size cigarette to compete with other popular brands of the era. It was phased out in the 1980s.

Vitamin Rich – img22031

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While it is hard to imagine that there can be anything nutritional in an electronic cigarette (e-cig), that is precisely what is being promoted by manufacturers of e-cigs as they continue to strive to market the product as “healthy” and “safe.” Multiple e-cig brands have added vitamin supplements to the vapor juice to encourage people to believe that by vaping the product they are getting the health benefit of vitamins.

VitaCig, which is abbreviated from Vitamin Cigarette, advertises itself as an e-cig with “just vitamins and flavored water.” The website claims that the e-cigs, which are nicotine free, contain base vitamins A,B,C,E, & CoQ10. In order to make the product more enticing to consumers, the website says that each VitaCig category has been carefully mixed to ensure that each puff delivers vitamins and phytonutrients to the body. The website also contains a vitamin label, similar to the one seen on any bottle of vitamins, that lists the amount of each vitamin present in the product.

Smoking Everywhere claims in its promotional materials that every puff on their device provides the individual with essential vitamins such as vitamin D, vitamin B, and even a multi-vitamin. To make it more enticing to consumers, the product is available in a variety of flavors including banana, blueberry, bubblegum, cola, cookies and chocolate chips, grape, green tea, orange, kiwi, and cookies and cream.

Vsmoke, by its very name suggests to consumers health benefits. The vapor juice brand, which claims to contain Vitamin C, Echinacea, Vitamin B12, is available in a number of fruity flavors including Swedish Fish, Gummy Candy, G6 Grape Mint, and Watermelon Breeze.

It is unfortunate that e-cig brands are adding vitamin supplements to their products to trick consumers into believing that this will make the product healthy. The nicotine present in most of these e-cig products is addictive and harmful to health. No amount of vitamin supplements can negate the health effects of nicotine. In those products without nicotine, there is immense public health concern that the tactile and sensory cues promoted by vaping an e-cig could lead an individual to dual use of both e-cigs and combustible cigarette products.

Smoke Anywhere – img16993

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Freedom is possibly America’s most treasured value. Protected in the “Bill of Rights,” it is a deeply held core belief that to many Americans was a birthright and to some a hard fought victory. Given its hold on the American psyche, it has been used as a powerful marketing tool to hawk products as diverse as airplane tickets for Southwest Airlines, which calls itself “A Symbol of Freedom,” to getting a good night’s sleep with Dacron pillows, which is “America’s Freedom Fabric,” to the freedom to discover the road ahead with Chevrolet’s “Find New Roads,” and the freedom to “Just Do it” with Nike products.

E-cigarette (e-cig) companies have jumped on the freedom bandwagon and promise many kinds of freedom to vapers. A key selling point touted by e-cig companies is that their products can be used in places where smoking of traditional cigarettes is banned, like bars, restaurants, on flights, and in entertainment and sporting venues. An ad for Vapestick shows a woman vaping her e-cig in bed. The slogan of the ad reads, “Looks, Feels, and Tastes like a Real Cigarette That You Can Smoke Anywhere!”. A Cannastick ad shows people enjoying a concert under the caption “The Freedom to Vape Anywhere.” An ad for Cigana has the image of an airplane and is accompanied by the following text, “Smoke without the smoke…. Smoke like no one is watching.” A Vega Vapor ad tells consumers that many “local establishments are vapor friendly.”

The Smoke Anywhere theme is also widely publicized on brand websites. For instance, Blu e-cigs, says on its website, “blu e-cigs® electronic cigarettes are not traditional cigarettes and do not burn tobacco, so they can be smoked in bars, restaurants, offices and other places where normal smoking bans are in effect.” Fin e-cigs on its website says the brand is for individuals “…who want the freedom to smoke in places where traditional cigarettes are not permitted.

While e-cigs offer many freedoms to its users, a freedom that it cannot offer but it often promises is the freedom to smoke anywhere. Despite ads, eg. Blu and Vapestick, that show individuals vape on airplanes, the US Department of Transportation has issued guidelines restricting the use of e-cigs on flights. More restaurants are also coming forward to ban vaping on their premises. For instance, fast food giant Taco Bell has banned vaping in its premises.

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Electronic cigarette (e-cig) manufacturers are relying on patriotic images and slogans as a sales pitch to subliminally influence individuals to form an emotional connection with their brands and generate sales. Many ads for e-cig companies contain images of cultural icons such as the American eagle and the Statue of Liberty that drive home the point that the nation is built on twin core values of freedom and independence.

Social media channels for e-cig brands are replete with patriotic posts and images that celebrate American holidays and events. During Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, e-cig advertising images of a majority of brands included the image of the American flag and a note of salutation. For Presidents Day, many ads included images of Mount Rushmore and President Washington. Advertisements under this theme use words with strong patriotic connotations such as “freedom,” “independence,” and “had a dream.” A Green Smoke Electronic Cigarettes ad has the image of Martin Luther King addressing a large gathering, we are made to believe, for his acclaimed “I Have a Dream” speech. The sub-text for the ad asks, “What’s Your Dream?”

A variant of the patriotic theme is one of nostalgia. The Fin branding group’s, manufacturer of Fin e-cigs, advertising strategy is centered around recreating images from the 1950s and 1960s, a period of time in America when civil rights struggles took center stage. One of the most striking advertising images for Fin e-cigs is the image of a 1960s diner. This image of an empty diner is an eerie reminder of a time of segregation. In February 1960 a group of black students from A&T North Carolina College were refused service because they sat in seats reserved for white people. Their peaceful sit-down helped ignite a national movement that challenged the racial inequality that existed at that point of time. Fin seems to have been aiming to recreate a call for equality and freedom in this ad. What comes to mind, however, is the image of a lonely smoker. Is smoking an electronic cigarette more lonely than segregation? In other ads, Fin continues with a “vintage” theme. In a series of ads with a modern twist on a vintage look, women dressed in 70’s clothing, “pursuing happiness” and “equality” are shown vaping e-cigs at diners and in vintage automobiles.

To ride the crest of Americans wanting to buy “American made” products, e-juice manufacturers are keen to label their products as “All American”, “tested in the US” and “American made.” Research shows that Americans are willing to pay a premium for products that are American as they believe they are helping the economy recuperate from its recent economic downturn and also because they believe the product to be safer and of higher quality. 1

1. Tsai, W. S. (2010). Patriotic advertising and the creation of the citizen-consumer. Journal of Media and Communication Studies, 2(3), 76-84.

Freedom Lifestyle – img22511

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Freedom marketing is pervasive in electronic cigarette (e-cig) marketing because unlike combustible tobacco products, the electronic devices are not regulated. A freedom based advertising theme that is consistently advertised by e-cig companies is free lifestyle.

Many e-cig brands through images and slogans evoke the emotion of “moments” of freedom and offer the promise of a free lifestyle and the freedom to smoke anywhere, without the worry of smoke-free policies. For instance, an ad for Veppo that features an open stretch of an empty road contains the tagline, “personal vaporizers, the pursuit of true freedom.” An ad for Smoko features a woman in a carefree pose with her head up and arms help open as she enjoys the sea breeze. The ad says, “enjoy your freedom wherever you are.” An ad for Blu has a carefree woman balancing herself on a ledge, which says, “freedom for the taking.”

E-cig brands market freedom based messages both through traditional advertising in magazines and billboards and through direct consumer interactions through social media channels. Blu Cigs frequently posts on its Facebook page with images associated with a free lifestyle and with posts asking followers to comment on their own “freedom stories.” VaporFi has a post that shows the wide open landscape and a man on top of a mountain. The image has nothing to do with the product but is just another example of e-cig brands trying to associate nothing to do with their product, but simply an association of this “free moment” and vaping.

Many e-cig brands aggressively attempting to capture the youth market are using freedom based advertising messages. Scientific studies1 have shown that adolescents desire autonomy and the ability to live life on their own terms. e-cig advertisements with images of free lifestyle and rebellion are just a few of the advertising techniques used by the e-cig companies to court adolescents.

1. Daddis, C. (2011), Desire for Increased Autonomy and Adolescents’ Perceptions of Peer Autonomy: “Everyone Else Can; Why Can’t I?”. Child Development, 82: 1310–1326. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01587.x