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Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising

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Do you inhale? – img1326

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To inhale or not to inhale? Is that the question? The ads in this theme certainly imply it is, but in an era when most adults smoked, those who didn’t inhale from their cigarettes were often ridiculed as “sissies.” According to Lucky Strike’s 1931 ad campaign, “every smoker inhales— knowingly or unknowingly.” With this claim, Lucky does not mean to insist that smokers should quit; Rather, Lucky claims that its cigarettes are the only brand safe enough to inhale. Additionally, Lucky explains that the “purifying [toasting] process removes certain impurities” so as to “safeguard those delicate membranes!” While this Lucky Strike ad campaign was short-lived, lasting only one year from 1931 to 1932, it strongly influenced the cigarette industry.

Ten years later, in 1942, Philip Morris followed in Lucky’s footsteps. Using their beloved spokesperson, Little Johnny, Philip Morris printed ads with a variation on the “Do You Inhale” theme, featuring slogans ranging from “You can’t help but inhale” to “Inhale? Sure, all smokers do!” Some of the Philip Morris print advertisements and television commercials of the era went as far as to borrow the exact phrase used by Lucky Strike a decade earlier: “Do you inhale?” The inhalation theme would continue in Lorillard’s 1949 ad campaign for Embassy cigarettes, which touted a “milder smoke” that allowed smokers to “inhale to your heart’s content!”

It was untrue that either Lucky Strike or Philip Morris was “safe” to inhale, but both brands were right about one thing: the tobacco contained in American cigarettes is easily drawn into the lungs. The tobacco smoke in cigarettes has a relative low alkalinity (with a pH of about 5.3) compared to the high alkalinity of pipes and cigars (with a pH of about 8.5). The higher the smoke’s alkalinity, the more difficult it is for a smoker to inhale – the smoke becomes too irritating, and the lungs are unable to accept the smoke at all. With cigarettes, smokers are able to inhale the harmful smoke, which is still irritating, and absorb the carcinogens and nicotine at a higher level. Many of today’s proponents of anti-cigarette litigation call for alkalinity levels in cigarettes to be raised in order to lessen the amount of irritants inhaled.

Healthy Cigars and Pipes – img1509

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“Healthy” cigars and pipes were blatantly advertised well into the first half of the 20th century alongside their cigarette counterparts. Many of these advertisements claimed that if the consumer smoked the pipe or cigar in question, he would live longer or be healthier. A turn-of-the-century pipe, “the Harmless Smoker,” was advertised under the slogan, “Don’t Kill Yourself Smoking – Use the Harmless Smoker.” As late as 1931, Thompson’s Mell-O-Well Cigars claimed that physicians referred to their brand as “a health cigar.”

It is important to note that the tobacco smoke in pipes and cigars has a much higher alkalinity (with a pH of about 8.5) when compared to that of cigarettes (with a pH of about 5.3). The higher the smoke’s alkalinity, the more difficult it is for a smoker to inhale, as the smoke becomes too irritating, causing the lungs to reject the smoke. However, this does not mean that pipes or cigars are safe. In fact, studies have revealed a high rate of mouth cancer – especially cancer of the lip – associated with pipe smoking. Studies have also shown that cigars pose a higher amount of secondhand smoke exposure than cigarettes because they contain more tobacco that burns for a longer period of time. Today, hookah, a water pipe also known as shisha, is finding increasing popularity among youth as a “safe alternative” to smoking cigarettes – a misconception. Smoking hookah is strongly linked to oral and lung cancer, heart disease, and other tobacco-related illnesses, and studies have shown that more carbon monoxide is inhaled through hookah than through cigarettes.

eCigars – img19452

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Currently, alternative cigarette products such as e-cigarettes, e-cigars and e-hookahs are in vogue. Vigorously marketed online and through sponsorships and celebrity endorsements as the safer, wiser and healthier alternative to conventional cigarette products, these products have caught the fancy of the public, especially teenagers.

E-cigars are marketed as products of refinement to powerful, and successful men who want to set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd. In its promotional materials, Veppo suggests that consumers who buy an e-cigar share a common bond with “powerful icons” such as Che Guvera, Winston Churchill, J.F.Kennedy, Mark Twain and interestingly enough actor Jack Nicholson. Because the feel of a cigar is so important to its consumers, e-cigar manufacturers have tried to mimic the soft tip and papery feel of the cigar in their products. Veppo e-cigars have a full paper wrap and are textured to feel like a traditional cigar. Totally Wicked and Veppo products have a “soft-tip” that mimics the chewable texture that consumers appreciate in a cigar.

Antonio Villard Premium Electronic Cigars, which brands its cigars as “elegance -redefined” operates on a unique promotional strategy. The cigar company trains cigar girls and offers nightclubs, restaurants and private parties, the service of these cigar girls to add flair to the event and push through the company’s cigar.

As with the advertising of e-Cig products, the manufacturers of e-Cigars are keen to promote the fact that their product looks and feels like a cigar.

Cigars – ing5719

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Cigars are often advertised directly to men, and, indeed, are represented as highly masculinized and often genteel. An ad from the Cigar Institute of America in 1963, for example, lets men know that if they “wear a cigar,” they will “look smart.” Masculinity is sometimes approached through sexualization of the cigar, as in the Don Diegos ad from the 1990s featuring a woman sucking on a cigar or the Celesitino Vega ad from the same period, which features a Hawaiian surfer posing at the beach with a giant, phallic surfboard painted to resemble a cigar. Other times, masculinity is portrayed through a more reserved route, as in the 1950s ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which claims that “In the eyes of his own family, every father is a success. And the father who knows cigars knows a very special kind of success.” The family unit and the fatherly figure are referenced often in cigar ads.

In addition, cigars are seen as a means to celebrate. An ad for Antonio y Cleopatra cigars says, “When a moment is worth remembering enjoy a cigar that’s hard to forget.” In the same vein, pink or blue candy cigars are often given to a new father to celebrate the birth of a child.

Beyond these approaches, many cigar ads focus on throat ease, since unlike cigarette smoke, cigar smoke cannot be inhaled due to its high alkalinity. Though these ads advertise health benefits for cigar smoking – Girard says its smoke is mild, so doctors recommend it, and Mell-O-Well calls its smoke “the health cigar” — cigar smoking is associated with higher incidences of oral cancers than cigarette smoking, and nicotine is absorbed in higher levels as well. Still, and ad for White Owl cigars tells you to switch to cigars or pipes “when you can’t give up smoking.” The main reason? No need to inhale. Most misleading, perhaps, is a 1964 ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which proclaims, incorrectly, “Cigar smokers start young and stay young!”

Cigarillos – ing14505

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The mid 1960’s saw an uptick in the little cigars market. These smaller cigars included flavors apart from tobacco(e.g., cherry, were milder than traditional cigars, and found a market among women. 1

Many of the advertisements in this section emphasize the mildness of the cigar and are targeted to women. In this section, you will come across a series of Tiparillo advertisements. In 1966, Tiparillo launched an advertising series “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lady?” While these advertisements were targeted at women, the ads focused more on female acceptance of cigars than use of the product. None of the women in the advertisement are actually seen using the product. A decade later, Tiparillo ran another advertising campaign, this one focused on female use of the product. In this series of advertisements for Tiparillo, the text suggest that times have changed as women have started to enjoy smoking the mild tasting cigar. Another brand, Wolf Brother’s Cherry Little Cigar even had a line in its advertising copy, “She’ll like them too.”

In 1971, RJR introduced its first little cigar, Winchester, which quickly became the largest selling brand of little cigars. The cigars were of the size and shape of cigarettes and contained a “filter tip” that “could easily be inhaled.” In one of its advertisements, a woman with a cowboy hat, her hair pulled around her face to create a mustache, is holding a Winchester cigar. The advertising text suggests that smoking the mild cigar is masculine.

Tobacco industry documents show that tobacco companies used flavors to mask the harshness of natural tobacco and target adolescents. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration prohibited the use of characterizing flavors (e.g., cherry, honey) except for mint in cigarettes.2 However, the use of such flavors in cigars, cigarillos and little cigars were not banned by the FDA. The availability of flavors among little cigars and their attractive pricing are making these cigars attractive to teenagers. In 2014, 63.5% of middle and high school students surveyed reported smoking a flavored mini cigar.3

1. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Press Announcement: Candy and Fruit Flavored Cigarettes Now Illegal in United States; Step is First Under New Tobacco Law. Published September 22, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm183211.htm.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking & Tobacco Use: Cigars. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/cigars/.

Sweet Cigars – ing24165

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There are different types of cigars available in the US- large cigars, cigarillos, and little cigars. Cigarillos are short and narrow cigars that are manufactured in a plethora of flavors ( e.g., peach, mango, cherry, grape, blueberry, wine, & white wine) that are attractively packaged and named to appeal to youth.

In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of characterizing flavors, except for menthol, in cigarettes.1 However, the ban did not extend to other flavored tobacco products including mini cigars and cigarillos. Declines in cigarette consumption were undermined by increases in the use of flavored tobacco products.2

A recent study found alcohol flavors being marketed by 88 unique cigar & cigarillo brands. The major 5 tobacco companies (Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris, Swedish Match, Scandinavian Tobacco Group and Swisher International) produce 15 brands of flavored cigars & cigarillos.2 The use of flavors increases the appeal of the tobacco product by decreasing the harsh taste of tobacco thereby making it easier for an individual to initiate with the product.3

Swisher, Inc., a leading manufacturer of cigarillos, offers a variety of chocolate, strawberry, peach, grape, and other flavored little cigars under the name “Swisher Sweets.” Phillies Cigarillos, another brand, also comes in a number of flavors. At one time, the brand even had a flavor called “Sugarillos” for “when sweet isn't sweet enough.” 4

With their colorful packages and store placement near candy, studies have shown that kids often mistake the shiny packages for candy. Apart from attractive flavors and names, cigar companies target youth through attractive pricing and packaging. Swisher Sweets often come in packages of two sticks for 99 cents, an attractive price for adolescents with limited discretionary funds. Among all flavored cigars, Swisher Sweets accounted for a preponderance of unit sales (52.6 million unit sales, 77.8% of total).4

References:

1. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Regulations restricting the sale and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to protect children and adolescents. Final Rule Fed Regist 2010;75:13225–3
2. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
3. Jackler RK, VanWinkle CK, Bumanlag IM, Ramamurthi D. (2017) Alcohol-Flavored Tobacco Products. Tob Con. [In print]
4. American Cancer Society.(2008) Big tobacco's guinea pigs: how an unregulated industry experiments on america's kids and consumers. Retrieved from https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/xkgm0222
5. CSP Daily News (April 15. 2016). Cigarette Convenience Store Sales Data from Year-End 2015. Retrieved from : http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-data/cmh/tobacco/tobacco-cigars-2016. Accessed on September 1, 2016.

African American – img35573

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In 2013, of the 29.8% of African American adults who reported “current use” (i.e. smoking in the past month), 7.5% of African American adults reported use of cigars. In fact, while cigarette consumption in America is declining, snuff and cigar has increased, prompting researchers to specifically address concerns about youth perceptions and smoking behaviors particularly amongst minority populations.1

Historically, tobacco companies have targeted advertising and promotional activities in minority communities; census tracts with a higher proportion of African American families and individuals have significantly higher tobacco retailer density. Furthermore, researchers in recent years have found that illicit sales to minors are much more common in African American neighborhoods, and that stores in these neighborhoods are less likely to request age identification for the purchase of tobacco products; exterior advertising for little cigars and cigarillos are also higher in many of these neighborhoods.2

Advertisements in this theme feature prominent “the everyday Dad.” For instance, an ad for White Owl features a dad smoking his cigar and enjoying a book with his two children on either side of him. The ad’s slogan says , White Owl is, “the cigar that Daddy smokes!”Ads by El Producto include testimonials from everyday professionals on the natural mildness of the cigar.

1. Dauphinee, A, et al. (2013). “Racial differences in cigarette brand recognition and impact on youth smoking,” BMC Public Health, 13:170, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586353/

2. Rodriguez, D, et al. (2017). “Predictors of tobacco outlet density nationwide: a geographic analysis,” Tobacco Control, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3431432/

3. Bach, L. (2017). Tobacco Company Marketing to African Americans .Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids . Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0208.pdf.

4. Yerger V, Pearson C, Malone RE. (2001). When is a cigar not a cigar? African American youths' understanding of “cigar” use. American Journal of Public Health , 91: 316-7.

Children – img35597

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Children have played a huge role in tobacco advertising over the decades, and images of children fulfill multiple purposes for tobacco advertisers. Depictions of children with their mothers or fathers in cigarette advertisements reinforce the respectability of smoking as a part of normal family life.

In an advertisement for Dutch Masters Cigars, the image is a warm one of a cheerful boy happy in the embrace of his father. The text of the advertisement reads, “A son’s hug… a daughter’s kiss… what is so dear to a father’s heart as his family’s love.” For Father’s Day, Dutch Masters also had cigar packs with the image of a father and son printed on it. In another advertisement for Dutch Masters, the image is of a young boy playing in the backyard of his suburban home. On one hand he is carrying a toy truck, while the other hand is carrying a string of empty Dutch Master cartons. In the background, you see his younger sister on the swing.
In yet another ad by the cigar maker, this one Christmas theme, a dad is sitting around smoking his cigar while his children (boy and girl) are setting up a toy city. Empty Dutch Master boxes are used to build the homes and garages. The text of the advertisement notes, “As soon as dad hands over another empty Dutch Masters box, one more house will start to rise. And this is a building boom that dad’s happy to help along-because he finds consistent pleasure in a full box of Dutch Masters.”

The images of youngsters tends to send a reassuring message to consumers about the healthfulness of the product, representing purity, vibrancy, and life concepts which can be dangerous when tied to tobacco products. Use of children are an obvious ploy to attract females to smoking as part of the industry’s campaign to expand the pool of women smokers.

Sports – img35612

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The relationship between cigars and sports was first introduced to the public more than 25 years ago when a national sports magazine featured a variety of advertisements on sports-related cigar boxes drawn from the National Cigar History Museum collection.

Increasingly in the decades that followed, prominent athletes began making public claims that correlated positive sportsmanship and winning titles to smoking cigars and cigarettes. This attracted tobacco companies like Philies to market products including their “Miracle Mild” cigars for the full range of sports fanatics: young, old, major league stars, and college basketball players alike; examples of this can be found in numerous Phillies advertisements that playoff of the 1960’s baseball culture. One of their advertisements strategically position “Miracle Milds” alongside statistics showing the top batting scores of the National League, suggesting a correlation between the nation’s top players and their cigar product. Furthermore, Phillies prided itself on being “America’s No. 1” for “Year ‘Round Sports Programs,” riding on the backs of popular news channels to elevate their message (e.g. National Broadcasting Company – NBC).

 Cigar companies used celebrity endorsements to promote their products. Michael Jordan, arguably the biggest star in basketball history, was pictured with a cigar in hand on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1993. Similarly, former NBA Coach Red Auerbach, the powerful figure who guided the Boston Celtics to a nine out of ten championship win between 1949 and 1966, practiced a very public habit of smoking a cigar after each winning game that this image eventually evolved into a symbol of victory in the history of sports. Brands such as Te-amo in the past invited their fans to celebrate athletes’ victories with even a special free cigar offer (i.e. Dana Quigley’s 2001 SBC Senior Open and Te-Amo Cabinet Selection Cigar.

Celebrities and Stars – img38127

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The relationship between celebrities and tobacco products has been longstanding. From the 1920s, tobacco companies have been using celebrities to endorse their tobacco products (e.g., 1928 Lucky Strike advertisement featuring actor Ann Andrews). In recent years, the cigar industry relying increasingly on celebrity endorsements and targeted marketing particularly in the movie and music industry. Prominent figures in the movie and music business whom have endorsed cigars include singer Justin Bieber, rapper Jay-Z, and actors Hugh Jackman, Robert De Niro, and Matthew McConaughey.

Celebrity music artist Calvin Broadus Jr., also known as “Snoop Dog”, launched his tobacco cigar and cigarillo brand Executive Branch in 2012, promoting it everywhere from major press sources, to music magazines, social media (e.g. Instagram), and popular music festivals like the 2012 Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Use of celebrities such as Snoop Dog has special attraction among youth, who are the most susceptible to being swayed by such endorsements. Snoop’s use of social media tools to promote the cigar has global reach. Snoop Dog has over “23 million likes on Facebook, 10+ million Twitter followers, and over 350,000 YouTube subscribers” – all of whom have probably viewed his multiple videos promoting cigars as “The Gentleman’s Choice.”  

In 1964, cigarette companies were banned from using testimonials from athletes, movie personalities, and other famous personalities who might be appealing to youth consumers. It is time that these rules applied to cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos.

1. Sterling, K., Moore, R., Pitts, N., & Duong, M. (2013). Exposure to Celebrity-Endorsed Small Cigar Promotions and Susceptibility to Use among Young Adult Cigarette Smokers. Journal and Environmental and Public Health . Retrieved May 30, 2017, from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2013/520286/.

2. Richardson, A., Ganz, O., & Valonne, D. (2013). The cigar ambassador: how Snoop Dogg uses Instagram to promote tobacco use.Tobacco Control. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2013/06/07/tobaccocontrol-2013-051037.full.pdf

Lady's Cigars – img38134

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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.

Healthy Cigars – img38177

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In the first half of the 20th century, tobacco companies were forthright with their health claims, featuring doctors hawking cigarettes or cigars in many of their ads. Consumers who saw these ads were made to feel that they would be following the doctor s orders to achieve health or fitness if they were to smoke the cigarettes advertised. Today, these nefarious health claims in tobacco ads are no longer so obvious; now, often words like pleasure or alive are keywords which indicate healthfulness. Doctors are no longer represented hawking cigarettes in ads, but the past audacity of tobacco companies is just as relevant in modern times.

At the time when many of these ads were printed, the public was worried about throat irritation due to smoking, and tobacco companies hoped that support from physicians would ease general concern. The none-too-subtle message was that if the doctor, with all his expertise, recommended a brand, then it must be safe.

In this theme, brands depict doctors hawking tobacco products in order to present the brand as healthful rather than harmful. An ad for Girard cigars has the image of a physician with a cigar in his hand accompanied by the following text, “Yes, I am a doctor. And I advise the smokers among my patients to smoke Girard cigars. In fact, I smoke them myself!..” The ad continues that the tobacco in Girard is “free from ill effects on the heart, the nerves or the digestion.” An ad by Thompson’s Mell-o-well has a physician recommending the brand of cigars to “any who are interested in regaining or keeping physical fitness.” It is ironic that in the process, they all manage to reveal the negative potential of tobacco by providing the consumer with the concept of an unhealthy cigarette or cigar in the first place.

Sex Appeal – img38253

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The tobacco industry, including cigar companies, have for long used sex appeal to gain the attention of consumers.

In this section, you will see a lot of advertisements for Tiparillo cigars. The professional women in the advertisements (e.g., biologist, dentist, librarian etc) are presented as sexual objects. For instance, in the “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a violinist,” advertisement that appeared in Playboy magazine, the woman is seen intently gazing at the camera, with her silk shirt open and her cleavage exposed. The text that accompanies the advertisement is highly sexual in nature. A part of the advertisement reads, “Well, should you offer? After all, if she likes the offer, she might start to play. No strings attached.”

In another advertisement in the series, identical twins with pronounced cleavage are seen gazing at the camera. The green of their sweaters and the background is a subliminal nod to the menthol flavored Tiparillo. The open cigar pack with the phallic shaped cigar is pointed at the mouth of one of the twins. By portraying women in a sexual manner, the professionalism of the women is weakened and the women are nothing more than an object for male pleasure.

Although advertisements with sex appeal are primarily targeted at men, they also manipulate young women into believing that a certain brand of cigarette might make her sexier and more attractive to men.

Healthy Cigars and Pipes – img1510

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“Healthy” cigars and pipes were blatantly advertised well into the first half of the 20th century alongside their cigarette counterparts. Many of these advertisements claimed that if the consumer smoked the pipe or cigar in question, he would live longer or be healthier. A turn-of-the-century pipe, “the Harmless Smoker,” was advertised under the slogan, “Don’t Kill Yourself Smoking – Use the Harmless Smoker.” As late as 1931, Thompson’s Mell-O-Well Cigars claimed that physicians referred to their brand as “a health cigar.”

It is important to note that the tobacco smoke in pipes and cigars has a much higher alkalinity (with a pH of about 8.5) when compared to that of cigarettes (with a pH of about 5.3). The higher the smoke’s alkalinity, the more difficult it is for a smoker to inhale, as the smoke becomes too irritating, causing the lungs to reject the smoke. However, this does not mean that pipes or cigars are safe. In fact, studies have revealed a high rate of mouth cancer – especially cancer of the lip – associated with pipe smoking. Studies have also shown that cigars pose a higher amount of secondhand smoke exposure than cigarettes because they contain more tobacco that burns for a longer period of time. Today, hookah, a water pipe also known as shisha, is finding increasing popularity among youth as a “safe alternative” to smoking cigarettes – a misconception. Smoking hookah is strongly linked to oral and lung cancer, heart disease, and other tobacco-related illnesses, and studies have shown that more carbon monoxide is inhaled through hookah than through cigarettes.

Sex Sells – img3777

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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.

eCigars – img19453

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Currently, alternative cigarette products such as e-cigarettes, e-cigars and e-hookahs are in vogue. Vigorously marketed online and through sponsorships and celebrity endorsements as the safer, wiser and healthier alternative to conventional cigarette products, these products have caught the fancy of the public, especially teenagers.

E-cigars are marketed as products of refinement to powerful, and successful men who want to set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd. In its promotional materials, Veppo suggests that consumers who buy an e-cigar share a common bond with “powerful icons” such as Che Guvera, Winston Churchill, J.F.Kennedy, Mark Twain and interestingly enough actor Jack Nicholson. Because the feel of a cigar is so important to its consumers, e-cigar manufacturers have tried to mimic the soft tip and papery feel of the cigar in their products. Veppo e-cigars have a full paper wrap and are textured to feel like a traditional cigar. Totally Wicked and Veppo products have a “soft-tip” that mimics the chewable texture that consumers appreciate in a cigar.

Antonio Villard Premium Electronic Cigars, which brands its cigars as “elegance -redefined” operates on a unique promotional strategy. The cigar company trains cigar girls and offers nightclubs, restaurants and private parties, the service of these cigar girls to add flair to the event and push through the company’s cigar.

As with the advertising of e-Cig products, the manufacturers of e-Cigars are keen to promote the fact that their product looks and feels like a cigar.

Cigars – ing5720

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Cigars are often advertised directly to men, and, indeed, are represented as highly masculinized and often genteel. An ad from the Cigar Institute of America in 1963, for example, lets men know that if they “wear a cigar,” they will “look smart.” Masculinity is sometimes approached through sexualization of the cigar, as in the Don Diegos ad from the 1990s featuring a woman sucking on a cigar or the Celesitino Vega ad from the same period, which features a Hawaiian surfer posing at the beach with a giant, phallic surfboard painted to resemble a cigar. Other times, masculinity is portrayed through a more reserved route, as in the 1950s ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which claims that “In the eyes of his own family, every father is a success. And the father who knows cigars knows a very special kind of success.” The family unit and the fatherly figure are referenced often in cigar ads.

In addition, cigars are seen as a means to celebrate. An ad for Antonio y Cleopatra cigars says, “When a moment is worth remembering enjoy a cigar that’s hard to forget.” In the same vein, pink or blue candy cigars are often given to a new father to celebrate the birth of a child.

Beyond these approaches, many cigar ads focus on throat ease, since unlike cigarette smoke, cigar smoke cannot be inhaled due to its high alkalinity. Though these ads advertise health benefits for cigar smoking – Girard says its smoke is mild, so doctors recommend it, and Mell-O-Well calls its smoke “the health cigar” — cigar smoking is associated with higher incidences of oral cancers than cigarette smoking, and nicotine is absorbed in higher levels as well. Still, and ad for White Owl cigars tells you to switch to cigars or pipes “when you can’t give up smoking.” The main reason? No need to inhale. Most misleading, perhaps, is a 1964 ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which proclaims, incorrectly, “Cigar smokers start young and stay young!”

Cigarillos – ing14506

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The mid 1960’s saw an uptick in the little cigars market. These smaller cigars included flavors apart from tobacco(e.g., cherry, were milder than traditional cigars, and found a market among women. 1

Many of the advertisements in this section emphasize the mildness of the cigar and are targeted to women. In this section, you will come across a series of Tiparillo advertisements. In 1966, Tiparillo launched an advertising series “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lady?” While these advertisements were targeted at women, the ads focused more on female acceptance of cigars than use of the product. None of the women in the advertisement are actually seen using the product. A decade later, Tiparillo ran another advertising campaign, this one focused on female use of the product. In this series of advertisements for Tiparillo, the text suggest that times have changed as women have started to enjoy smoking the mild tasting cigar. Another brand, Wolf Brother’s Cherry Little Cigar even had a line in its advertising copy, “She’ll like them too.”

In 1971, RJR introduced its first little cigar, Winchester, which quickly became the largest selling brand of little cigars. The cigars were of the size and shape of cigarettes and contained a “filter tip” that “could easily be inhaled.” In one of its advertisements, a woman with a cowboy hat, her hair pulled around her face to create a mustache, is holding a Winchester cigar. The advertising text suggests that smoking the mild cigar is masculine.

Tobacco industry documents show that tobacco companies used flavors to mask the harshness of natural tobacco and target adolescents. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration prohibited the use of characterizing flavors (e.g., cherry, honey) except for mint in cigarettes.2 However, the use of such flavors in cigars, cigarillos and little cigars were not banned by the FDA. The availability of flavors among little cigars and their attractive pricing are making these cigars attractive to teenagers. In 2014, 63.5% of middle and high school students surveyed reported smoking a flavored mini cigar.3

1. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Press Announcement: Candy and Fruit Flavored Cigarettes Now Illegal in United States; Step is First Under New Tobacco Law. Published September 22, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm183211.htm.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking & Tobacco Use: Cigars. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/cigars/.

Sweet Cigars – ing11085

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There are different types of cigars available in the US- large cigars, cigarillos, and little cigars. Cigarillos are short and narrow cigars that are manufactured in a plethora of flavors ( e.g., peach, mango, cherry, grape, blueberry, wine, & white wine) that are attractively packaged and named to appeal to youth.

In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of characterizing flavors, except for menthol, in cigarettes.1 However, the ban did not extend to other flavored tobacco products including mini cigars and cigarillos. Declines in cigarette consumption were undermined by increases in the use of flavored tobacco products.2

A recent study found alcohol flavors being marketed by 88 unique cigar & cigarillo brands. The major 5 tobacco companies (Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris, Swedish Match, Scandinavian Tobacco Group and Swisher International) produce 15 brands of flavored cigars & cigarillos.2 The use of flavors increases the appeal of the tobacco product by decreasing the harsh taste of tobacco thereby making it easier for an individual to initiate with the product.3

Swisher, Inc., a leading manufacturer of cigarillos, offers a variety of chocolate, strawberry, peach, grape, and other flavored little cigars under the name “Swisher Sweets.” Phillies Cigarillos, another brand, also comes in a number of flavors. At one time, the brand even had a flavor called “Sugarillos” for “when sweet isn't sweet enough.” 4

With their colorful packages and store placement near candy, studies have shown that kids often mistake the shiny packages for candy. Apart from attractive flavors and names, cigar companies target youth through attractive pricing and packaging. Swisher Sweets often come in packages of two sticks for 99 cents, an attractive price for adolescents with limited discretionary funds. Among all flavored cigars, Swisher Sweets accounted for a preponderance of unit sales (52.6 million unit sales, 77.8% of total).4

References:

1. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Regulations restricting the sale and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to protect children and adolescents. Final Rule Fed Regist 2010;75:13225–3
2. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
3. Jackler RK, VanWinkle CK, Bumanlag IM, Ramamurthi D. (2017) Alcohol-Flavored Tobacco Products. Tob Con. [In print]
4. American Cancer Society.(2008) Big tobacco's guinea pigs: how an unregulated industry experiments on america's kids and consumers. Retrieved from https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/xkgm0222
5. CSP Daily News (April 15. 2016). Cigarette Convenience Store Sales Data from Year-End 2015. Retrieved from : http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-data/cmh/tobacco/tobacco-cigars-2016. Accessed on September 1, 2016.

African American – img35574

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In 2013, of the 29.8% of African American adults who reported “current use” (i.e. smoking in the past month), 7.5% of African American adults reported use of cigars. In fact, while cigarette consumption in America is declining, snuff and cigar has increased, prompting researchers to specifically address concerns about youth perceptions and smoking behaviors particularly amongst minority populations.1

Historically, tobacco companies have targeted advertising and promotional activities in minority communities; census tracts with a higher proportion of African American families and individuals have significantly higher tobacco retailer density. Furthermore, researchers in recent years have found that illicit sales to minors are much more common in African American neighborhoods, and that stores in these neighborhoods are less likely to request age identification for the purchase of tobacco products; exterior advertising for little cigars and cigarillos are also higher in many of these neighborhoods.2

Advertisements in this theme feature prominent “the everyday Dad.” For instance, an ad for White Owl features a dad smoking his cigar and enjoying a book with his two children on either side of him. The ad’s slogan says , White Owl is, “the cigar that Daddy smokes!”Ads by El Producto include testimonials from everyday professionals on the natural mildness of the cigar.

1. Dauphinee, A, et al. (2013). “Racial differences in cigarette brand recognition and impact on youth smoking,” BMC Public Health, 13:170, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586353/

2. Rodriguez, D, et al. (2017). “Predictors of tobacco outlet density nationwide: a geographic analysis,” Tobacco Control, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3431432/

3. Bach, L. (2017). Tobacco Company Marketing to African Americans .Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids . Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0208.pdf.

4. Yerger V, Pearson C, Malone RE. (2001). When is a cigar not a cigar? African American youths' understanding of “cigar” use. American Journal of Public Health , 91: 316-7.

Children – img35598

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Children have played a huge role in tobacco advertising over the decades, and images of children fulfill multiple purposes for tobacco advertisers. Depictions of children with their mothers or fathers in cigarette advertisements reinforce the respectability of smoking as a part of normal family life.

In an advertisement for Dutch Masters Cigars, the image is a warm one of a cheerful boy happy in the embrace of his father. The text of the advertisement reads, “A son’s hug… a daughter’s kiss… what is so dear to a father’s heart as his family’s love.” For Father’s Day, Dutch Masters also had cigar packs with the image of a father and son printed on it. In another advertisement for Dutch Masters, the image is of a young boy playing in the backyard of his suburban home. On one hand he is carrying a toy truck, while the other hand is carrying a string of empty Dutch Master cartons. In the background, you see his younger sister on the swing.
In yet another ad by the cigar maker, this one Christmas theme, a dad is sitting around smoking his cigar while his children (boy and girl) are setting up a toy city. Empty Dutch Master boxes are used to build the homes and garages. The text of the advertisement notes, “As soon as dad hands over another empty Dutch Masters box, one more house will start to rise. And this is a building boom that dad’s happy to help along-because he finds consistent pleasure in a full box of Dutch Masters.”

The images of youngsters tends to send a reassuring message to consumers about the healthfulness of the product, representing purity, vibrancy, and life concepts which can be dangerous when tied to tobacco products. Use of children are an obvious ploy to attract females to smoking as part of the industry’s campaign to expand the pool of women smokers.

Sports – img35613

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The relationship between cigars and sports was first introduced to the public more than 25 years ago when a national sports magazine featured a variety of advertisements on sports-related cigar boxes drawn from the National Cigar History Museum collection.

Increasingly in the decades that followed, prominent athletes began making public claims that correlated positive sportsmanship and winning titles to smoking cigars and cigarettes. This attracted tobacco companies like Philies to market products including their “Miracle Mild” cigars for the full range of sports fanatics: young, old, major league stars, and college basketball players alike; examples of this can be found in numerous Phillies advertisements that playoff of the 1960’s baseball culture. One of their advertisements strategically position “Miracle Milds” alongside statistics showing the top batting scores of the National League, suggesting a correlation between the nation’s top players and their cigar product. Furthermore, Phillies prided itself on being “America’s No. 1” for “Year ‘Round Sports Programs,” riding on the backs of popular news channels to elevate their message (e.g. National Broadcasting Company – NBC).

 Cigar companies used celebrity endorsements to promote their products. Michael Jordan, arguably the biggest star in basketball history, was pictured with a cigar in hand on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1993. Similarly, former NBA Coach Red Auerbach, the powerful figure who guided the Boston Celtics to a nine out of ten championship win between 1949 and 1966, practiced a very public habit of smoking a cigar after each winning game that this image eventually evolved into a symbol of victory in the history of sports. Brands such as Te-amo in the past invited their fans to celebrate athletes’ victories with even a special free cigar offer (i.e. Dana Quigley’s 2001 SBC Senior Open and Te-Amo Cabinet Selection Cigar.

Sex Appeal – img35644

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The tobacco industry, including cigar companies, have for long used sex appeal to gain the attention of consumers.

In this section, you will see a lot of advertisements for Tiparillo cigars. The professional women in the advertisements (e.g., biologist, dentist, librarian etc) are presented as sexual objects. For instance, in the “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a violinist,” advertisement that appeared in Playboy magazine, the woman is seen intently gazing at the camera, with her silk shirt open and her cleavage exposed. The text that accompanies the advertisement is highly sexual in nature. A part of the advertisement reads, “Well, should you offer? After all, if she likes the offer, she might start to play. No strings attached.”

In another advertisement in the series, identical twins with pronounced cleavage are seen gazing at the camera. The green of their sweaters and the background is a subliminal nod to the menthol flavored Tiparillo. The open cigar pack with the phallic shaped cigar is pointed at the mouth of one of the twins. By portraying women in a sexual manner, the professionalism of the women is weakened and the women are nothing more than an object for male pleasure.

Although advertisements with sex appeal are primarily targeted at men, they also manipulate young women into believing that a certain brand of cigarette might make her sexier and more attractive to men.

Celebrities and Stars – img38125

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The relationship between celebrities and tobacco products has been longstanding. From the 1920s, tobacco companies have been using celebrities to endorse their tobacco products (e.g., 1928 Lucky Strike advertisement featuring actor Ann Andrews). In recent years, the cigar industry relying increasingly on celebrity endorsements and targeted marketing particularly in the movie and music industry. Prominent figures in the movie and music business whom have endorsed cigars include singer Justin Bieber, rapper Jay-Z, and actors Hugh Jackman, Robert De Niro, and Matthew McConaughey.

Celebrity music artist Calvin Broadus Jr., also known as “Snoop Dog”, launched his tobacco cigar and cigarillo brand Executive Branch in 2012, promoting it everywhere from major press sources, to music magazines, social media (e.g. Instagram), and popular music festivals like the 2012 Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Use of celebrities such as Snoop Dog has special attraction among youth, who are the most susceptible to being swayed by such endorsements. Snoop’s use of social media tools to promote the cigar has global reach. Snoop Dog has over “23 million likes on Facebook, 10+ million Twitter followers, and over 350,000 YouTube subscribers” – all of whom have probably viewed his multiple videos promoting cigars as “The Gentleman’s Choice.”  

In 1964, cigarette companies were banned from using testimonials from athletes, movie personalities, and other famous personalities who might be appealing to youth consumers. It is time that these rules applied to cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos.

1. Sterling, K., Moore, R., Pitts, N., & Duong, M. (2013). Exposure to Celebrity-Endorsed Small Cigar Promotions and Susceptibility to Use among Young Adult Cigarette Smokers. Journal and Environmental and Public Health . Retrieved May 30, 2017, from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2013/520286/.

2. Richardson, A., Ganz, O., & Valonne, D. (2013). The cigar ambassador: how Snoop Dogg uses Instagram to promote tobacco use.Tobacco Control. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2013/06/07/tobaccocontrol-2013-051037.full.pdf

Lady's Cigars – img38135

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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.

Healthy Cigars – img38176

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In the first half of the 20th century, tobacco companies were forthright with their health claims, featuring doctors hawking cigarettes or cigars in many of their ads. Consumers who saw these ads were made to feel that they would be following the doctor s orders to achieve health or fitness if they were to smoke the cigarettes advertised. Today, these nefarious health claims in tobacco ads are no longer so obvious; now, often words like pleasure or alive are keywords which indicate healthfulness. Doctors are no longer represented hawking cigarettes in ads, but the past audacity of tobacco companies is just as relevant in modern times.

At the time when many of these ads were printed, the public was worried about throat irritation due to smoking, and tobacco companies hoped that support from physicians would ease general concern. The none-too-subtle message was that if the doctor, with all his expertise, recommended a brand, then it must be safe.

In this theme, brands depict doctors hawking tobacco products in order to present the brand as healthful rather than harmful. An ad for Girard cigars has the image of a physician with a cigar in his hand accompanied by the following text, “Yes, I am a doctor. And I advise the smokers among my patients to smoke Girard cigars. In fact, I smoke them myself!..” The ad continues that the tobacco in Girard is “free from ill effects on the heart, the nerves or the digestion.” An ad by Thompson’s Mell-o-well has a physician recommending the brand of cigars to “any who are interested in regaining or keeping physical fitness.” It is ironic that in the process, they all manage to reveal the negative potential of tobacco by providing the consumer with the concept of an unhealthy cigarette or cigar in the first place.

Keep Kissable – img24384

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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.

eCigars – img19454

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Currently, alternative cigarette products such as e-cigarettes, e-cigars and e-hookahs are in vogue. Vigorously marketed online and through sponsorships and celebrity endorsements as the safer, wiser and healthier alternative to conventional cigarette products, these products have caught the fancy of the public, especially teenagers.

E-cigars are marketed as products of refinement to powerful, and successful men who want to set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd. In its promotional materials, Veppo suggests that consumers who buy an e-cigar share a common bond with “powerful icons” such as Che Guvera, Winston Churchill, J.F.Kennedy, Mark Twain and interestingly enough actor Jack Nicholson. Because the feel of a cigar is so important to its consumers, e-cigar manufacturers have tried to mimic the soft tip and papery feel of the cigar in their products. Veppo e-cigars have a full paper wrap and are textured to feel like a traditional cigar. Totally Wicked and Veppo products have a “soft-tip” that mimics the chewable texture that consumers appreciate in a cigar.

Antonio Villard Premium Electronic Cigars, which brands its cigars as “elegance -redefined” operates on a unique promotional strategy. The cigar company trains cigar girls and offers nightclubs, restaurants and private parties, the service of these cigar girls to add flair to the event and push through the company’s cigar.

As with the advertising of e-Cig products, the manufacturers of e-Cigars are keen to promote the fact that their product looks and feels like a cigar.

Cigars – ing5721

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Cigars are often advertised directly to men, and, indeed, are represented as highly masculinized and often genteel. An ad from the Cigar Institute of America in 1963, for example, lets men know that if they “wear a cigar,” they will “look smart.” Masculinity is sometimes approached through sexualization of the cigar, as in the Don Diegos ad from the 1990s featuring a woman sucking on a cigar or the Celesitino Vega ad from the same period, which features a Hawaiian surfer posing at the beach with a giant, phallic surfboard painted to resemble a cigar. Other times, masculinity is portrayed through a more reserved route, as in the 1950s ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which claims that “In the eyes of his own family, every father is a success. And the father who knows cigars knows a very special kind of success.” The family unit and the fatherly figure are referenced often in cigar ads.

In addition, cigars are seen as a means to celebrate. An ad for Antonio y Cleopatra cigars says, “When a moment is worth remembering enjoy a cigar that’s hard to forget.” In the same vein, pink or blue candy cigars are often given to a new father to celebrate the birth of a child.

Beyond these approaches, many cigar ads focus on throat ease, since unlike cigarette smoke, cigar smoke cannot be inhaled due to its high alkalinity. Though these ads advertise health benefits for cigar smoking – Girard says its smoke is mild, so doctors recommend it, and Mell-O-Well calls its smoke “the health cigar” — cigar smoking is associated with higher incidences of oral cancers than cigarette smoking, and nicotine is absorbed in higher levels as well. Still, and ad for White Owl cigars tells you to switch to cigars or pipes “when you can’t give up smoking.” The main reason? No need to inhale. Most misleading, perhaps, is a 1964 ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which proclaims, incorrectly, “Cigar smokers start young and stay young!”

Cigarillos – ing14507

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The mid 1960’s saw an uptick in the little cigars market. These smaller cigars included flavors apart from tobacco(e.g., cherry, were milder than traditional cigars, and found a market among women. 1

Many of the advertisements in this section emphasize the mildness of the cigar and are targeted to women. In this section, you will come across a series of Tiparillo advertisements. In 1966, Tiparillo launched an advertising series “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lady?” While these advertisements were targeted at women, the ads focused more on female acceptance of cigars than use of the product. None of the women in the advertisement are actually seen using the product. A decade later, Tiparillo ran another advertising campaign, this one focused on female use of the product. In this series of advertisements for Tiparillo, the text suggest that times have changed as women have started to enjoy smoking the mild tasting cigar. Another brand, Wolf Brother’s Cherry Little Cigar even had a line in its advertising copy, “She’ll like them too.”

In 1971, RJR introduced its first little cigar, Winchester, which quickly became the largest selling brand of little cigars. The cigars were of the size and shape of cigarettes and contained a “filter tip” that “could easily be inhaled.” In one of its advertisements, a woman with a cowboy hat, her hair pulled around her face to create a mustache, is holding a Winchester cigar. The advertising text suggests that smoking the mild cigar is masculine.

Tobacco industry documents show that tobacco companies used flavors to mask the harshness of natural tobacco and target adolescents. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration prohibited the use of characterizing flavors (e.g., cherry, honey) except for mint in cigarettes.2 However, the use of such flavors in cigars, cigarillos and little cigars were not banned by the FDA. The availability of flavors among little cigars and their attractive pricing are making these cigars attractive to teenagers. In 2014, 63.5% of middle and high school students surveyed reported smoking a flavored mini cigar.3

1. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Press Announcement: Candy and Fruit Flavored Cigarettes Now Illegal in United States; Step is First Under New Tobacco Law. Published September 22, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm183211.htm.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking & Tobacco Use: Cigars. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/cigars/.

Sweet Cigars – ing23795

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There are different types of cigars available in the US- large cigars, cigarillos, and little cigars. Cigarillos are short and narrow cigars that are manufactured in a plethora of flavors ( e.g., peach, mango, cherry, grape, blueberry, wine, & white wine) that are attractively packaged and named to appeal to youth.

In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of characterizing flavors, except for menthol, in cigarettes.1 However, the ban did not extend to other flavored tobacco products including mini cigars and cigarillos. Declines in cigarette consumption were undermined by increases in the use of flavored tobacco products.2

A recent study found alcohol flavors being marketed by 88 unique cigar & cigarillo brands. The major 5 tobacco companies (Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris, Swedish Match, Scandinavian Tobacco Group and Swisher International) produce 15 brands of flavored cigars & cigarillos.2 The use of flavors increases the appeal of the tobacco product by decreasing the harsh taste of tobacco thereby making it easier for an individual to initiate with the product.3

Swisher, Inc., a leading manufacturer of cigarillos, offers a variety of chocolate, strawberry, peach, grape, and other flavored little cigars under the name “Swisher Sweets.” Phillies Cigarillos, another brand, also comes in a number of flavors. At one time, the brand even had a flavor called “Sugarillos” for “when sweet isn't sweet enough.” 4

With their colorful packages and store placement near candy, studies have shown that kids often mistake the shiny packages for candy. Apart from attractive flavors and names, cigar companies target youth through attractive pricing and packaging. Swisher Sweets often come in packages of two sticks for 99 cents, an attractive price for adolescents with limited discretionary funds. Among all flavored cigars, Swisher Sweets accounted for a preponderance of unit sales (52.6 million unit sales, 77.8% of total).4

References:

1. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Regulations restricting the sale and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to protect children and adolescents. Final Rule Fed Regist 2010;75:13225–3
2. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
3. Jackler RK, VanWinkle CK, Bumanlag IM, Ramamurthi D. (2017) Alcohol-Flavored Tobacco Products. Tob Con. [In print]
4. American Cancer Society.(2008) Big tobacco's guinea pigs: how an unregulated industry experiments on america's kids and consumers. Retrieved from https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/xkgm0222
5. CSP Daily News (April 15. 2016). Cigarette Convenience Store Sales Data from Year-End 2015. Retrieved from : http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-data/cmh/tobacco/tobacco-cigars-2016. Accessed on September 1, 2016.

Celebrities and Stars – img35556

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The relationship between celebrities and tobacco products has been longstanding. From the 1920s, tobacco companies have been using celebrities to endorse their tobacco products (e.g., 1928 Lucky Strike advertisement featuring actor Ann Andrews). In recent years, the cigar industry relying increasingly on celebrity endorsements and targeted marketing particularly in the movie and music industry. Prominent figures in the movie and music business whom have endorsed cigars include singer Justin Bieber, rapper Jay-Z, and actors Hugh Jackman, Robert De Niro, and Matthew McConaughey.

Celebrity music artist Calvin Broadus Jr., also known as “Snoop Dog”, launched his tobacco cigar and cigarillo brand Executive Branch in 2012, promoting it everywhere from major press sources, to music magazines, social media (e.g. Instagram), and popular music festivals like the 2012 Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Use of celebrities such as Snoop Dog has special attraction among youth, who are the most susceptible to being swayed by such endorsements. Snoop’s use of social media tools to promote the cigar has global reach. Snoop Dog has over “23 million likes on Facebook, 10+ million Twitter followers, and over 350,000 YouTube subscribers” – all of whom have probably viewed his multiple videos promoting cigars as “The Gentleman’s Choice.”  

In 1964, cigarette companies were banned from using testimonials from athletes, movie personalities, and other famous personalities who might be appealing to youth consumers. It is time that these rules applied to cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos.

1. Sterling, K., Moore, R., Pitts, N., & Duong, M. (2013). Exposure to Celebrity-Endorsed Small Cigar Promotions and Susceptibility to Use among Young Adult Cigarette Smokers. Journal and Environmental and Public Health . Retrieved May 30, 2017, from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2013/520286/.

2. Richardson, A., Ganz, O., & Valonne, D. (2013). The cigar ambassador: how Snoop Dogg uses Instagram to promote tobacco use.Tobacco Control. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2013/06/07/tobaccocontrol-2013-051037.full.pdf

African American – img35575

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In 2013, of the 29.8% of African American adults who reported “current use” (i.e. smoking in the past month), 7.5% of African American adults reported use of cigars. In fact, while cigarette consumption in America is declining, snuff and cigar has increased, prompting researchers to specifically address concerns about youth perceptions and smoking behaviors particularly amongst minority populations.1

Historically, tobacco companies have targeted advertising and promotional activities in minority communities; census tracts with a higher proportion of African American families and individuals have significantly higher tobacco retailer density. Furthermore, researchers in recent years have found that illicit sales to minors are much more common in African American neighborhoods, and that stores in these neighborhoods are less likely to request age identification for the purchase of tobacco products; exterior advertising for little cigars and cigarillos are also higher in many of these neighborhoods.2

Advertisements in this theme feature prominent “the everyday Dad.” For instance, an ad for White Owl features a dad smoking his cigar and enjoying a book with his two children on either side of him. The ad’s slogan says , White Owl is, “the cigar that Daddy smokes!”Ads by El Producto include testimonials from everyday professionals on the natural mildness of the cigar.

1. Dauphinee, A, et al. (2013). “Racial differences in cigarette brand recognition and impact on youth smoking,” BMC Public Health, 13:170, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586353/

2. Rodriguez, D, et al. (2017). “Predictors of tobacco outlet density nationwide: a geographic analysis,” Tobacco Control, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3431432/

3. Bach, L. (2017). Tobacco Company Marketing to African Americans .Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids . Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0208.pdf.

4. Yerger V, Pearson C, Malone RE. (2001). When is a cigar not a cigar? African American youths' understanding of “cigar” use. American Journal of Public Health , 91: 316-7.

Children – img35603

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Children have played a huge role in tobacco advertising over the decades, and images of children fulfill multiple purposes for tobacco advertisers. Depictions of children with their mothers or fathers in cigarette advertisements reinforce the respectability of smoking as a part of normal family life.

In an advertisement for Dutch Masters Cigars, the image is a warm one of a cheerful boy happy in the embrace of his father. The text of the advertisement reads, “A son’s hug… a daughter’s kiss… what is so dear to a father’s heart as his family’s love.” For Father’s Day, Dutch Masters also had cigar packs with the image of a father and son printed on it. In another advertisement for Dutch Masters, the image is of a young boy playing in the backyard of his suburban home. On one hand he is carrying a toy truck, while the other hand is carrying a string of empty Dutch Master cartons. In the background, you see his younger sister on the swing.
In yet another ad by the cigar maker, this one Christmas theme, a dad is sitting around smoking his cigar while his children (boy and girl) are setting up a toy city. Empty Dutch Master boxes are used to build the homes and garages. The text of the advertisement notes, “As soon as dad hands over another empty Dutch Masters box, one more house will start to rise. And this is a building boom that dad’s happy to help along-because he finds consistent pleasure in a full box of Dutch Masters.”

The images of youngsters tends to send a reassuring message to consumers about the healthfulness of the product, representing purity, vibrancy, and life concepts which can be dangerous when tied to tobacco products. Use of children are an obvious ploy to attract females to smoking as part of the industry’s campaign to expand the pool of women smokers.

Healthy Cigars – img35626

by

In the first half of the 20th century, tobacco companies were forthright with their health claims, featuring doctors hawking cigarettes or cigars in many of their ads. Consumers who saw these ads were made to feel that they would be following the doctor s orders to achieve health or fitness if they were to smoke the cigarettes advertised. Today, these nefarious health claims in tobacco ads are no longer so obvious; now, often words like pleasure or alive are keywords which indicate healthfulness. Doctors are no longer represented hawking cigarettes in ads, but the past audacity of tobacco companies is just as relevant in modern times.

At the time when many of these ads were printed, the public was worried about throat irritation due to smoking, and tobacco companies hoped that support from physicians would ease general concern. The none-too-subtle message was that if the doctor, with all his expertise, recommended a brand, then it must be safe.

In this theme, brands depict doctors hawking tobacco products in order to present the brand as healthful rather than harmful. An ad for Girard cigars has the image of a physician with a cigar in his hand accompanied by the following text, “Yes, I am a doctor. And I advise the smokers among my patients to smoke Girard cigars. In fact, I smoke them myself!..” The ad continues that the tobacco in Girard is “free from ill effects on the heart, the nerves or the digestion.” An ad by Thompson’s Mell-o-well has a physician recommending the brand of cigars to “any who are interested in regaining or keeping physical fitness.” It is ironic that in the process, they all manage to reveal the negative potential of tobacco by providing the consumer with the concept of an unhealthy cigarette or cigar in the first place.

Lady's Cigars – img38136

by

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.

Sports – img38251

by

The relationship between cigars and sports was first introduced to the public more than 25 years ago when a national sports magazine featured a variety of advertisements on sports-related cigar boxes drawn from the National Cigar History Museum collection.

Increasingly in the decades that followed, prominent athletes began making public claims that correlated positive sportsmanship and winning titles to smoking cigars and cigarettes. This attracted tobacco companies like Philies to market products including their “Miracle Mild” cigars for the full range of sports fanatics: young, old, major league stars, and college basketball players alike; examples of this can be found in numerous Phillies advertisements that playoff of the 1960’s baseball culture. One of their advertisements strategically position “Miracle Milds” alongside statistics showing the top batting scores of the National League, suggesting a correlation between the nation’s top players and their cigar product. Furthermore, Phillies prided itself on being “America’s No. 1” for “Year ‘Round Sports Programs,” riding on the backs of popular news channels to elevate their message (e.g. National Broadcasting Company – NBC).

 Cigar companies used celebrity endorsements to promote their products. Michael Jordan, arguably the biggest star in basketball history, was pictured with a cigar in hand on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1993. Similarly, former NBA Coach Red Auerbach, the powerful figure who guided the Boston Celtics to a nine out of ten championship win between 1949 and 1966, practiced a very public habit of smoking a cigar after each winning game that this image eventually evolved into a symbol of victory in the history of sports. Brands such as Te-amo in the past invited their fans to celebrate athletes’ victories with even a special free cigar offer (i.e. Dana Quigley’s 2001 SBC Senior Open and Te-Amo Cabinet Selection Cigar.

Sex Appeal – img38255

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The tobacco industry, including cigar companies, have for long used sex appeal to gain the attention of consumers.

In this section, you will see a lot of advertisements for Tiparillo cigars. The professional women in the advertisements (e.g., biologist, dentist, librarian etc) are presented as sexual objects. For instance, in the “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a violinist,” advertisement that appeared in Playboy magazine, the woman is seen intently gazing at the camera, with her silk shirt open and her cleavage exposed. The text that accompanies the advertisement is highly sexual in nature. A part of the advertisement reads, “Well, should you offer? After all, if she likes the offer, she might start to play. No strings attached.”

In another advertisement in the series, identical twins with pronounced cleavage are seen gazing at the camera. The green of their sweaters and the background is a subliminal nod to the menthol flavored Tiparillo. The open cigar pack with the phallic shaped cigar is pointed at the mouth of one of the twins. By portraying women in a sexual manner, the professionalism of the women is weakened and the women are nothing more than an object for male pleasure.

Although advertisements with sex appeal are primarily targeted at men, they also manipulate young women into believing that a certain brand of cigarette might make her sexier and more attractive to men.

Sex Sells – img3779

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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.

eCigars – img19455

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Currently, alternative cigarette products such as e-cigarettes, e-cigars and e-hookahs are in vogue. Vigorously marketed online and through sponsorships and celebrity endorsements as the safer, wiser and healthier alternative to conventional cigarette products, these products have caught the fancy of the public, especially teenagers.

E-cigars are marketed as products of refinement to powerful, and successful men who want to set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd. In its promotional materials, Veppo suggests that consumers who buy an e-cigar share a common bond with “powerful icons” such as Che Guvera, Winston Churchill, J.F.Kennedy, Mark Twain and interestingly enough actor Jack Nicholson. Because the feel of a cigar is so important to its consumers, e-cigar manufacturers have tried to mimic the soft tip and papery feel of the cigar in their products. Veppo e-cigars have a full paper wrap and are textured to feel like a traditional cigar. Totally Wicked and Veppo products have a “soft-tip” that mimics the chewable texture that consumers appreciate in a cigar.

Antonio Villard Premium Electronic Cigars, which brands its cigars as “elegance -redefined” operates on a unique promotional strategy. The cigar company trains cigar girls and offers nightclubs, restaurants and private parties, the service of these cigar girls to add flair to the event and push through the company’s cigar.

As with the advertising of e-Cig products, the manufacturers of e-Cigars are keen to promote the fact that their product looks and feels like a cigar.

Cigars – ing5723

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Cigars are often advertised directly to men, and, indeed, are represented as highly masculinized and often genteel. An ad from the Cigar Institute of America in 1963, for example, lets men know that if they “wear a cigar,” they will “look smart.” Masculinity is sometimes approached through sexualization of the cigar, as in the Don Diegos ad from the 1990s featuring a woman sucking on a cigar or the Celesitino Vega ad from the same period, which features a Hawaiian surfer posing at the beach with a giant, phallic surfboard painted to resemble a cigar. Other times, masculinity is portrayed through a more reserved route, as in the 1950s ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which claims that “In the eyes of his own family, every father is a success. And the father who knows cigars knows a very special kind of success.” The family unit and the fatherly figure are referenced often in cigar ads.

In addition, cigars are seen as a means to celebrate. An ad for Antonio y Cleopatra cigars says, “When a moment is worth remembering enjoy a cigar that’s hard to forget.” In the same vein, pink or blue candy cigars are often given to a new father to celebrate the birth of a child.

Beyond these approaches, many cigar ads focus on throat ease, since unlike cigarette smoke, cigar smoke cannot be inhaled due to its high alkalinity. Though these ads advertise health benefits for cigar smoking – Girard says its smoke is mild, so doctors recommend it, and Mell-O-Well calls its smoke “the health cigar” — cigar smoking is associated with higher incidences of oral cancers than cigarette smoking, and nicotine is absorbed in higher levels as well. Still, and ad for White Owl cigars tells you to switch to cigars or pipes “when you can’t give up smoking.” The main reason? No need to inhale. Most misleading, perhaps, is a 1964 ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which proclaims, incorrectly, “Cigar smokers start young and stay young!”

Cigarillos – ing14508

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The mid 1960’s saw an uptick in the little cigars market. These smaller cigars included flavors apart from tobacco(e.g., cherry, were milder than traditional cigars, and found a market among women. 1

Many of the advertisements in this section emphasize the mildness of the cigar and are targeted to women. In this section, you will come across a series of Tiparillo advertisements. In 1966, Tiparillo launched an advertising series “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lady?” While these advertisements were targeted at women, the ads focused more on female acceptance of cigars than use of the product. None of the women in the advertisement are actually seen using the product. A decade later, Tiparillo ran another advertising campaign, this one focused on female use of the product. In this series of advertisements for Tiparillo, the text suggest that times have changed as women have started to enjoy smoking the mild tasting cigar. Another brand, Wolf Brother’s Cherry Little Cigar even had a line in its advertising copy, “She’ll like them too.”

In 1971, RJR introduced its first little cigar, Winchester, which quickly became the largest selling brand of little cigars. The cigars were of the size and shape of cigarettes and contained a “filter tip” that “could easily be inhaled.” In one of its advertisements, a woman with a cowboy hat, her hair pulled around her face to create a mustache, is holding a Winchester cigar. The advertising text suggests that smoking the mild cigar is masculine.

Tobacco industry documents show that tobacco companies used flavors to mask the harshness of natural tobacco and target adolescents. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration prohibited the use of characterizing flavors (e.g., cherry, honey) except for mint in cigarettes.2 However, the use of such flavors in cigars, cigarillos and little cigars were not banned by the FDA. The availability of flavors among little cigars and their attractive pricing are making these cigars attractive to teenagers. In 2014, 63.5% of middle and high school students surveyed reported smoking a flavored mini cigar.3

1. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Press Announcement: Candy and Fruit Flavored Cigarettes Now Illegal in United States; Step is First Under New Tobacco Law. Published September 22, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm183211.htm.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking & Tobacco Use: Cigars. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/cigars/.

Sweet Cigars – ing11086

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There are different types of cigars available in the US- large cigars, cigarillos, and little cigars. Cigarillos are short and narrow cigars that are manufactured in a plethora of flavors ( e.g., peach, mango, cherry, grape, blueberry, wine, & white wine) that are attractively packaged and named to appeal to youth.

In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of characterizing flavors, except for menthol, in cigarettes.1 However, the ban did not extend to other flavored tobacco products including mini cigars and cigarillos. Declines in cigarette consumption were undermined by increases in the use of flavored tobacco products.2

A recent study found alcohol flavors being marketed by 88 unique cigar & cigarillo brands. The major 5 tobacco companies (Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris, Swedish Match, Scandinavian Tobacco Group and Swisher International) produce 15 brands of flavored cigars & cigarillos.2 The use of flavors increases the appeal of the tobacco product by decreasing the harsh taste of tobacco thereby making it easier for an individual to initiate with the product.3

Swisher, Inc., a leading manufacturer of cigarillos, offers a variety of chocolate, strawberry, peach, grape, and other flavored little cigars under the name “Swisher Sweets.” Phillies Cigarillos, another brand, also comes in a number of flavors. At one time, the brand even had a flavor called “Sugarillos” for “when sweet isn't sweet enough.” 4

With their colorful packages and store placement near candy, studies have shown that kids often mistake the shiny packages for candy. Apart from attractive flavors and names, cigar companies target youth through attractive pricing and packaging. Swisher Sweets often come in packages of two sticks for 99 cents, an attractive price for adolescents with limited discretionary funds. Among all flavored cigars, Swisher Sweets accounted for a preponderance of unit sales (52.6 million unit sales, 77.8% of total).4

References:

1. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Regulations restricting the sale and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to protect children and adolescents. Final Rule Fed Regist 2010;75:13225–3
2. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
3. Jackler RK, VanWinkle CK, Bumanlag IM, Ramamurthi D. (2017) Alcohol-Flavored Tobacco Products. Tob Con. [In print]
4. American Cancer Society.(2008) Big tobacco's guinea pigs: how an unregulated industry experiments on america's kids and consumers. Retrieved from https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/xkgm0222
5. CSP Daily News (April 15. 2016). Cigarette Convenience Store Sales Data from Year-End 2015. Retrieved from : http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-data/cmh/tobacco/tobacco-cigars-2016. Accessed on September 1, 2016.

Celebrities and Stars – img35557

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The relationship between celebrities and tobacco products has been longstanding. From the 1920s, tobacco companies have been using celebrities to endorse their tobacco products (e.g., 1928 Lucky Strike advertisement featuring actor Ann Andrews). In recent years, the cigar industry relying increasingly on celebrity endorsements and targeted marketing particularly in the movie and music industry. Prominent figures in the movie and music business whom have endorsed cigars include singer Justin Bieber, rapper Jay-Z, and actors Hugh Jackman, Robert De Niro, and Matthew McConaughey.

Celebrity music artist Calvin Broadus Jr., also known as “Snoop Dog”, launched his tobacco cigar and cigarillo brand Executive Branch in 2012, promoting it everywhere from major press sources, to music magazines, social media (e.g. Instagram), and popular music festivals like the 2012 Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Use of celebrities such as Snoop Dog has special attraction among youth, who are the most susceptible to being swayed by such endorsements. Snoop’s use of social media tools to promote the cigar has global reach. Snoop Dog has over “23 million likes on Facebook, 10+ million Twitter followers, and over 350,000 YouTube subscribers” – all of whom have probably viewed his multiple videos promoting cigars as “The Gentleman’s Choice.”  

In 1964, cigarette companies were banned from using testimonials from athletes, movie personalities, and other famous personalities who might be appealing to youth consumers. It is time that these rules applied to cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos.

1. Sterling, K., Moore, R., Pitts, N., & Duong, M. (2013). Exposure to Celebrity-Endorsed Small Cigar Promotions and Susceptibility to Use among Young Adult Cigarette Smokers. Journal and Environmental and Public Health . Retrieved May 30, 2017, from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2013/520286/.

2. Richardson, A., Ganz, O., & Valonne, D. (2013). The cigar ambassador: how Snoop Dogg uses Instagram to promote tobacco use.Tobacco Control. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2013/06/07/tobaccocontrol-2013-051037.full.pdf

African American – img35576

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In 2013, of the 29.8% of African American adults who reported “current use” (i.e. smoking in the past month), 7.5% of African American adults reported use of cigars. In fact, while cigarette consumption in America is declining, snuff and cigar has increased, prompting researchers to specifically address concerns about youth perceptions and smoking behaviors particularly amongst minority populations.1

Historically, tobacco companies have targeted advertising and promotional activities in minority communities; census tracts with a higher proportion of African American families and individuals have significantly higher tobacco retailer density. Furthermore, researchers in recent years have found that illicit sales to minors are much more common in African American neighborhoods, and that stores in these neighborhoods are less likely to request age identification for the purchase of tobacco products; exterior advertising for little cigars and cigarillos are also higher in many of these neighborhoods.2

Advertisements in this theme feature prominent “the everyday Dad.” For instance, an ad for White Owl features a dad smoking his cigar and enjoying a book with his two children on either side of him. The ad’s slogan says , White Owl is, “the cigar that Daddy smokes!”Ads by El Producto include testimonials from everyday professionals on the natural mildness of the cigar.

1. Dauphinee, A, et al. (2013). “Racial differences in cigarette brand recognition and impact on youth smoking,” BMC Public Health, 13:170, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586353/

2. Rodriguez, D, et al. (2017). “Predictors of tobacco outlet density nationwide: a geographic analysis,” Tobacco Control, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3431432/

3. Bach, L. (2017). Tobacco Company Marketing to African Americans .Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids . Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0208.pdf.

4. Yerger V, Pearson C, Malone RE. (2001). When is a cigar not a cigar? African American youths' understanding of “cigar” use. American Journal of Public Health , 91: 316-7.

Children – img35605

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Children have played a huge role in tobacco advertising over the decades, and images of children fulfill multiple purposes for tobacco advertisers. Depictions of children with their mothers or fathers in cigarette advertisements reinforce the respectability of smoking as a part of normal family life.

In an advertisement for Dutch Masters Cigars, the image is a warm one of a cheerful boy happy in the embrace of his father. The text of the advertisement reads, “A son’s hug… a daughter’s kiss… what is so dear to a father’s heart as his family’s love.” For Father’s Day, Dutch Masters also had cigar packs with the image of a father and son printed on it. In another advertisement for Dutch Masters, the image is of a young boy playing in the backyard of his suburban home. On one hand he is carrying a toy truck, while the other hand is carrying a string of empty Dutch Master cartons. In the background, you see his younger sister on the swing.
In yet another ad by the cigar maker, this one Christmas theme, a dad is sitting around smoking his cigar while his children (boy and girl) are setting up a toy city. Empty Dutch Master boxes are used to build the homes and garages. The text of the advertisement notes, “As soon as dad hands over another empty Dutch Masters box, one more house will start to rise. And this is a building boom that dad’s happy to help along-because he finds consistent pleasure in a full box of Dutch Masters.”

The images of youngsters tends to send a reassuring message to consumers about the healthfulness of the product, representing purity, vibrancy, and life concepts which can be dangerous when tied to tobacco products. Use of children are an obvious ploy to attract females to smoking as part of the industry’s campaign to expand the pool of women smokers.

Sports – img35617

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The relationship between cigars and sports was first introduced to the public more than 25 years ago when a national sports magazine featured a variety of advertisements on sports-related cigar boxes drawn from the National Cigar History Museum collection.

Increasingly in the decades that followed, prominent athletes began making public claims that correlated positive sportsmanship and winning titles to smoking cigars and cigarettes. This attracted tobacco companies like Philies to market products including their “Miracle Mild” cigars for the full range of sports fanatics: young, old, major league stars, and college basketball players alike; examples of this can be found in numerous Phillies advertisements that playoff of the 1960’s baseball culture. One of their advertisements strategically position “Miracle Milds” alongside statistics showing the top batting scores of the National League, suggesting a correlation between the nation’s top players and their cigar product. Furthermore, Phillies prided itself on being “America’s No. 1” for “Year ‘Round Sports Programs,” riding on the backs of popular news channels to elevate their message (e.g. National Broadcasting Company – NBC).

 Cigar companies used celebrity endorsements to promote their products. Michael Jordan, arguably the biggest star in basketball history, was pictured with a cigar in hand on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1993. Similarly, former NBA Coach Red Auerbach, the powerful figure who guided the Boston Celtics to a nine out of ten championship win between 1949 and 1966, practiced a very public habit of smoking a cigar after each winning game that this image eventually evolved into a symbol of victory in the history of sports. Brands such as Te-amo in the past invited their fans to celebrate athletes’ victories with even a special free cigar offer (i.e. Dana Quigley’s 2001 SBC Senior Open and Te-Amo Cabinet Selection Cigar.

Lady's Cigars – img38137

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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.

Healthy Cigars – img38168

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In the first half of the 20th century, tobacco companies were forthright with their health claims, featuring doctors hawking cigarettes or cigars in many of their ads. Consumers who saw these ads were made to feel that they would be following the doctor s orders to achieve health or fitness if they were to smoke the cigarettes advertised. Today, these nefarious health claims in tobacco ads are no longer so obvious; now, often words like pleasure or alive are keywords which indicate healthfulness. Doctors are no longer represented hawking cigarettes in ads, but the past audacity of tobacco companies is just as relevant in modern times.

At the time when many of these ads were printed, the public was worried about throat irritation due to smoking, and tobacco companies hoped that support from physicians would ease general concern. The none-too-subtle message was that if the doctor, with all his expertise, recommended a brand, then it must be safe.

In this theme, brands depict doctors hawking tobacco products in order to present the brand as healthful rather than harmful. An ad for Girard cigars has the image of a physician with a cigar in his hand accompanied by the following text, “Yes, I am a doctor. And I advise the smokers among my patients to smoke Girard cigars. In fact, I smoke them myself!..” The ad continues that the tobacco in Girard is “free from ill effects on the heart, the nerves or the digestion.” An ad by Thompson’s Mell-o-well has a physician recommending the brand of cigars to “any who are interested in regaining or keeping physical fitness.” It is ironic that in the process, they all manage to reveal the negative potential of tobacco by providing the consumer with the concept of an unhealthy cigarette or cigar in the first place.

Sex Appeal – img38256

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The tobacco industry, including cigar companies, have for long used sex appeal to gain the attention of consumers.

In this section, you will see a lot of advertisements for Tiparillo cigars. The professional women in the advertisements (e.g., biologist, dentist, librarian etc) are presented as sexual objects. For instance, in the “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a violinist,” advertisement that appeared in Playboy magazine, the woman is seen intently gazing at the camera, with her silk shirt open and her cleavage exposed. The text that accompanies the advertisement is highly sexual in nature. A part of the advertisement reads, “Well, should you offer? After all, if she likes the offer, she might start to play. No strings attached.”

In another advertisement in the series, identical twins with pronounced cleavage are seen gazing at the camera. The green of their sweaters and the background is a subliminal nod to the menthol flavored Tiparillo. The open cigar pack with the phallic shaped cigar is pointed at the mouth of one of the twins. By portraying women in a sexual manner, the professionalism of the women is weakened and the women are nothing more than an object for male pleasure.

Although advertisements with sex appeal are primarily targeted at men, they also manipulate young women into believing that a certain brand of cigarette might make her sexier and more attractive to men.

eCigars – img19456

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Currently, alternative cigarette products such as e-cigarettes, e-cigars and e-hookahs are in vogue. Vigorously marketed online and through sponsorships and celebrity endorsements as the safer, wiser and healthier alternative to conventional cigarette products, these products have caught the fancy of the public, especially teenagers.

E-cigars are marketed as products of refinement to powerful, and successful men who want to set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd. In its promotional materials, Veppo suggests that consumers who buy an e-cigar share a common bond with “powerful icons” such as Che Guvera, Winston Churchill, J.F.Kennedy, Mark Twain and interestingly enough actor Jack Nicholson. Because the feel of a cigar is so important to its consumers, e-cigar manufacturers have tried to mimic the soft tip and papery feel of the cigar in their products. Veppo e-cigars have a full paper wrap and are textured to feel like a traditional cigar. Totally Wicked and Veppo products have a “soft-tip” that mimics the chewable texture that consumers appreciate in a cigar.

Antonio Villard Premium Electronic Cigars, which brands its cigars as “elegance -redefined” operates on a unique promotional strategy. The cigar company trains cigar girls and offers nightclubs, restaurants and private parties, the service of these cigar girls to add flair to the event and push through the company’s cigar.

As with the advertising of e-Cig products, the manufacturers of e-Cigars are keen to promote the fact that their product looks and feels like a cigar.

Cigars – ing5724

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Cigars are often advertised directly to men, and, indeed, are represented as highly masculinized and often genteel. An ad from the Cigar Institute of America in 1963, for example, lets men know that if they “wear a cigar,” they will “look smart.” Masculinity is sometimes approached through sexualization of the cigar, as in the Don Diegos ad from the 1990s featuring a woman sucking on a cigar or the Celesitino Vega ad from the same period, which features a Hawaiian surfer posing at the beach with a giant, phallic surfboard painted to resemble a cigar. Other times, masculinity is portrayed through a more reserved route, as in the 1950s ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which claims that “In the eyes of his own family, every father is a success. And the father who knows cigars knows a very special kind of success.” The family unit and the fatherly figure are referenced often in cigar ads.

In addition, cigars are seen as a means to celebrate. An ad for Antonio y Cleopatra cigars says, “When a moment is worth remembering enjoy a cigar that’s hard to forget.” In the same vein, pink or blue candy cigars are often given to a new father to celebrate the birth of a child.

Beyond these approaches, many cigar ads focus on throat ease, since unlike cigarette smoke, cigar smoke cannot be inhaled due to its high alkalinity. Though these ads advertise health benefits for cigar smoking – Girard says its smoke is mild, so doctors recommend it, and Mell-O-Well calls its smoke “the health cigar” — cigar smoking is associated with higher incidences of oral cancers than cigarette smoking, and nicotine is absorbed in higher levels as well. Still, and ad for White Owl cigars tells you to switch to cigars or pipes “when you can’t give up smoking.” The main reason? No need to inhale. Most misleading, perhaps, is a 1964 ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which proclaims, incorrectly, “Cigar smokers start young and stay young!”

Cigarillos – ing14509

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The mid 1960’s saw an uptick in the little cigars market. These smaller cigars included flavors apart from tobacco(e.g., cherry, were milder than traditional cigars, and found a market among women. 1

Many of the advertisements in this section emphasize the mildness of the cigar and are targeted to women. In this section, you will come across a series of Tiparillo advertisements. In 1966, Tiparillo launched an advertising series “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lady?” While these advertisements were targeted at women, the ads focused more on female acceptance of cigars than use of the product. None of the women in the advertisement are actually seen using the product. A decade later, Tiparillo ran another advertising campaign, this one focused on female use of the product. In this series of advertisements for Tiparillo, the text suggest that times have changed as women have started to enjoy smoking the mild tasting cigar. Another brand, Wolf Brother’s Cherry Little Cigar even had a line in its advertising copy, “She’ll like them too.”

In 1971, RJR introduced its first little cigar, Winchester, which quickly became the largest selling brand of little cigars. The cigars were of the size and shape of cigarettes and contained a “filter tip” that “could easily be inhaled.” In one of its advertisements, a woman with a cowboy hat, her hair pulled around her face to create a mustache, is holding a Winchester cigar. The advertising text suggests that smoking the mild cigar is masculine.

Tobacco industry documents show that tobacco companies used flavors to mask the harshness of natural tobacco and target adolescents. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration prohibited the use of characterizing flavors (e.g., cherry, honey) except for mint in cigarettes.2 However, the use of such flavors in cigars, cigarillos and little cigars were not banned by the FDA. The availability of flavors among little cigars and their attractive pricing are making these cigars attractive to teenagers. In 2014, 63.5% of middle and high school students surveyed reported smoking a flavored mini cigar.3

1. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Press Announcement: Candy and Fruit Flavored Cigarettes Now Illegal in United States; Step is First Under New Tobacco Law. Published September 22, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm183211.htm.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking & Tobacco Use: Cigars. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/cigars/.

Celebrities and Stars – img35558

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The relationship between celebrities and tobacco products has been longstanding. From the 1920s, tobacco companies have been using celebrities to endorse their tobacco products (e.g., 1928 Lucky Strike advertisement featuring actor Ann Andrews). In recent years, the cigar industry relying increasingly on celebrity endorsements and targeted marketing particularly in the movie and music industry. Prominent figures in the movie and music business whom have endorsed cigars include singer Justin Bieber, rapper Jay-Z, and actors Hugh Jackman, Robert De Niro, and Matthew McConaughey.

Celebrity music artist Calvin Broadus Jr., also known as “Snoop Dog”, launched his tobacco cigar and cigarillo brand Executive Branch in 2012, promoting it everywhere from major press sources, to music magazines, social media (e.g. Instagram), and popular music festivals like the 2012 Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Use of celebrities such as Snoop Dog has special attraction among youth, who are the most susceptible to being swayed by such endorsements. Snoop’s use of social media tools to promote the cigar has global reach. Snoop Dog has over “23 million likes on Facebook, 10+ million Twitter followers, and over 350,000 YouTube subscribers” – all of whom have probably viewed his multiple videos promoting cigars as “The Gentleman’s Choice.”  

In 1964, cigarette companies were banned from using testimonials from athletes, movie personalities, and other famous personalities who might be appealing to youth consumers. It is time that these rules applied to cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos.

1. Sterling, K., Moore, R., Pitts, N., & Duong, M. (2013). Exposure to Celebrity-Endorsed Small Cigar Promotions and Susceptibility to Use among Young Adult Cigarette Smokers. Journal and Environmental and Public Health . Retrieved May 30, 2017, from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2013/520286/.

2. Richardson, A., Ganz, O., & Valonne, D. (2013). The cigar ambassador: how Snoop Dogg uses Instagram to promote tobacco use.Tobacco Control. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2013/06/07/tobaccocontrol-2013-051037.full.pdf

African American – img35571

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In 2013, of the 29.8% of African American adults who reported “current use” (i.e. smoking in the past month), 7.5% of African American adults reported use of cigars. In fact, while cigarette consumption in America is declining, snuff and cigar has increased, prompting researchers to specifically address concerns about youth perceptions and smoking behaviors particularly amongst minority populations.1

Historically, tobacco companies have targeted advertising and promotional activities in minority communities; census tracts with a higher proportion of African American families and individuals have significantly higher tobacco retailer density. Furthermore, researchers in recent years have found that illicit sales to minors are much more common in African American neighborhoods, and that stores in these neighborhoods are less likely to request age identification for the purchase of tobacco products; exterior advertising for little cigars and cigarillos are also higher in many of these neighborhoods.2

Advertisements in this theme feature prominent “the everyday Dad.” For instance, an ad for White Owl features a dad smoking his cigar and enjoying a book with his two children on either side of him. The ad’s slogan says , White Owl is, “the cigar that Daddy smokes!”Ads by El Producto include testimonials from everyday professionals on the natural mildness of the cigar.

1. Dauphinee, A, et al. (2013). “Racial differences in cigarette brand recognition and impact on youth smoking,” BMC Public Health, 13:170, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586353/

2. Rodriguez, D, et al. (2017). “Predictors of tobacco outlet density nationwide: a geographic analysis,” Tobacco Control, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3431432/

3. Bach, L. (2017). Tobacco Company Marketing to African Americans .Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids . Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0208.pdf.

4. Yerger V, Pearson C, Malone RE. (2001). When is a cigar not a cigar? African American youths' understanding of “cigar” use. American Journal of Public Health , 91: 316-7.

Children – img35606

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Children have played a huge role in tobacco advertising over the decades, and images of children fulfill multiple purposes for tobacco advertisers. Depictions of children with their mothers or fathers in cigarette advertisements reinforce the respectability of smoking as a part of normal family life.

In an advertisement for Dutch Masters Cigars, the image is a warm one of a cheerful boy happy in the embrace of his father. The text of the advertisement reads, “A son’s hug… a daughter’s kiss… what is so dear to a father’s heart as his family’s love.” For Father’s Day, Dutch Masters also had cigar packs with the image of a father and son printed on it. In another advertisement for Dutch Masters, the image is of a young boy playing in the backyard of his suburban home. On one hand he is carrying a toy truck, while the other hand is carrying a string of empty Dutch Master cartons. In the background, you see his younger sister on the swing.
In yet another ad by the cigar maker, this one Christmas theme, a dad is sitting around smoking his cigar while his children (boy and girl) are setting up a toy city. Empty Dutch Master boxes are used to build the homes and garages. The text of the advertisement notes, “As soon as dad hands over another empty Dutch Masters box, one more house will start to rise. And this is a building boom that dad’s happy to help along-because he finds consistent pleasure in a full box of Dutch Masters.”

The images of youngsters tends to send a reassuring message to consumers about the healthfulness of the product, representing purity, vibrancy, and life concepts which can be dangerous when tied to tobacco products. Use of children are an obvious ploy to attract females to smoking as part of the industry’s campaign to expand the pool of women smokers.

Healthy Cigars – img35627

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In the first half of the 20th century, tobacco companies were forthright with their health claims, featuring doctors hawking cigarettes or cigars in many of their ads. Consumers who saw these ads were made to feel that they would be following the doctor s orders to achieve health or fitness if they were to smoke the cigarettes advertised. Today, these nefarious health claims in tobacco ads are no longer so obvious; now, often words like pleasure or alive are keywords which indicate healthfulness. Doctors are no longer represented hawking cigarettes in ads, but the past audacity of tobacco companies is just as relevant in modern times.

At the time when many of these ads were printed, the public was worried about throat irritation due to smoking, and tobacco companies hoped that support from physicians would ease general concern. The none-too-subtle message was that if the doctor, with all his expertise, recommended a brand, then it must be safe.

In this theme, brands depict doctors hawking tobacco products in order to present the brand as healthful rather than harmful. An ad for Girard cigars has the image of a physician with a cigar in his hand accompanied by the following text, “Yes, I am a doctor. And I advise the smokers among my patients to smoke Girard cigars. In fact, I smoke them myself!..” The ad continues that the tobacco in Girard is “free from ill effects on the heart, the nerves or the digestion.” An ad by Thompson’s Mell-o-well has a physician recommending the brand of cigars to “any who are interested in regaining or keeping physical fitness.” It is ironic that in the process, they all manage to reveal the negative potential of tobacco by providing the consumer with the concept of an unhealthy cigarette or cigar in the first place.

Sweet Cigars – img38100

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There are different types of cigars available in the US- large cigars, cigarillos, and little cigars. Cigarillos are short and narrow cigars that are manufactured in a plethora of flavors ( e.g., peach, mango, cherry, grape, blueberry, wine, & white wine) that are attractively packaged and named to appeal to youth.

In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of characterizing flavors, except for menthol, in cigarettes.1 However, the ban did not extend to other flavored tobacco products including mini cigars and cigarillos. Declines in cigarette consumption were undermined by increases in the use of flavored tobacco products.2

A recent study found alcohol flavors being marketed by 88 unique cigar & cigarillo brands. The major 5 tobacco companies (Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris, Swedish Match, Scandinavian Tobacco Group and Swisher International) produce 15 brands of flavored cigars & cigarillos.2 The use of flavors increases the appeal of the tobacco product by decreasing the harsh taste of tobacco thereby making it easier for an individual to initiate with the product.3

Swisher, Inc., a leading manufacturer of cigarillos, offers a variety of chocolate, strawberry, peach, grape, and other flavored little cigars under the name “Swisher Sweets.” Phillies Cigarillos, another brand, also comes in a number of flavors. At one time, the brand even had a flavor called “Sugarillos” for “when sweet isn't sweet enough.” 4

With their colorful packages and store placement near candy, studies have shown that kids often mistake the shiny packages for candy. Apart from attractive flavors and names, cigar companies target youth through attractive pricing and packaging. Swisher Sweets often come in packages of two sticks for 99 cents, an attractive price for adolescents with limited discretionary funds. Among all flavored cigars, Swisher Sweets accounted for a preponderance of unit sales (52.6 million unit sales, 77.8% of total).4

References:

1. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Regulations restricting the sale and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to protect children and adolescents. Final Rule Fed Regist 2010;75:13225–3
2. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
3. Jackler RK, VanWinkle CK, Bumanlag IM, Ramamurthi D. (2017) Alcohol-Flavored Tobacco Products. Tob Con. [In print]
4. American Cancer Society.(2008) Big tobacco's guinea pigs: how an unregulated industry experiments on america's kids and consumers. Retrieved from https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/xkgm0222
5. CSP Daily News (April 15. 2016). Cigarette Convenience Store Sales Data from Year-End 2015. Retrieved from : http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-data/cmh/tobacco/tobacco-cigars-2016. Accessed on September 1, 2016.

Lady's Cigars – img38138

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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.

Sports – img38213

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The relationship between cigars and sports was first introduced to the public more than 25 years ago when a national sports magazine featured a variety of advertisements on sports-related cigar boxes drawn from the National Cigar History Museum collection.

Increasingly in the decades that followed, prominent athletes began making public claims that correlated positive sportsmanship and winning titles to smoking cigars and cigarettes. This attracted tobacco companies like Philies to market products including their “Miracle Mild” cigars for the full range of sports fanatics: young, old, major league stars, and college basketball players alike; examples of this can be found in numerous Phillies advertisements that playoff of the 1960’s baseball culture. One of their advertisements strategically position “Miracle Milds” alongside statistics showing the top batting scores of the National League, suggesting a correlation between the nation’s top players and their cigar product. Furthermore, Phillies prided itself on being “America’s No. 1” for “Year ‘Round Sports Programs,” riding on the backs of popular news channels to elevate their message (e.g. National Broadcasting Company – NBC).

 Cigar companies used celebrity endorsements to promote their products. Michael Jordan, arguably the biggest star in basketball history, was pictured with a cigar in hand on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1993. Similarly, former NBA Coach Red Auerbach, the powerful figure who guided the Boston Celtics to a nine out of ten championship win between 1949 and 1966, practiced a very public habit of smoking a cigar after each winning game that this image eventually evolved into a symbol of victory in the history of sports. Brands such as Te-amo in the past invited their fans to celebrate athletes’ victories with even a special free cigar offer (i.e. Dana Quigley’s 2001 SBC Senior Open and Te-Amo Cabinet Selection Cigar.

Sex Appeal – img38257

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The tobacco industry, including cigar companies, have for long used sex appeal to gain the attention of consumers.

In this section, you will see a lot of advertisements for Tiparillo cigars. The professional women in the advertisements (e.g., biologist, dentist, librarian etc) are presented as sexual objects. For instance, in the “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a violinist,” advertisement that appeared in Playboy magazine, the woman is seen intently gazing at the camera, with her silk shirt open and her cleavage exposed. The text that accompanies the advertisement is highly sexual in nature. A part of the advertisement reads, “Well, should you offer? After all, if she likes the offer, she might start to play. No strings attached.”

In another advertisement in the series, identical twins with pronounced cleavage are seen gazing at the camera. The green of their sweaters and the background is a subliminal nod to the menthol flavored Tiparillo. The open cigar pack with the phallic shaped cigar is pointed at the mouth of one of the twins. By portraying women in a sexual manner, the professionalism of the women is weakened and the women are nothing more than an object for male pleasure.

Although advertisements with sex appeal are primarily targeted at men, they also manipulate young women into believing that a certain brand of cigarette might make her sexier and more attractive to men.

Healthy Cigars and Pipes – img11576

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“Healthy” cigars and pipes were blatantly advertised well into the first half of the 20th century alongside their cigarette counterparts. Many of these advertisements claimed that if the consumer smoked the pipe or cigar in question, he would live longer or be healthier. A turn-of-the-century pipe, “the Harmless Smoker,” was advertised under the slogan, “Don’t Kill Yourself Smoking – Use the Harmless Smoker.” As late as 1931, Thompson’s Mell-O-Well Cigars claimed that physicians referred to their brand as “a health cigar.”

It is important to note that the tobacco smoke in pipes and cigars has a much higher alkalinity (with a pH of about 8.5) when compared to that of cigarettes (with a pH of about 5.3). The higher the smoke’s alkalinity, the more difficult it is for a smoker to inhale, as the smoke becomes too irritating, causing the lungs to reject the smoke. However, this does not mean that pipes or cigars are safe. In fact, studies have revealed a high rate of mouth cancer – especially cancer of the lip – associated with pipe smoking. Studies have also shown that cigars pose a higher amount of secondhand smoke exposure than cigarettes because they contain more tobacco that burns for a longer period of time. Today, hookah, a water pipe also known as shisha, is finding increasing popularity among youth as a “safe alternative” to smoking cigarettes – a misconception. Smoking hookah is strongly linked to oral and lung cancer, heart disease, and other tobacco-related illnesses, and studies have shown that more carbon monoxide is inhaled through hookah than through cigarettes.

Sex Sells – img9014

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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.

eCigars – img19457

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Currently, alternative cigarette products such as e-cigarettes, e-cigars and e-hookahs are in vogue. Vigorously marketed online and through sponsorships and celebrity endorsements as the safer, wiser and healthier alternative to conventional cigarette products, these products have caught the fancy of the public, especially teenagers.

E-cigars are marketed as products of refinement to powerful, and successful men who want to set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd. In its promotional materials, Veppo suggests that consumers who buy an e-cigar share a common bond with “powerful icons” such as Che Guvera, Winston Churchill, J.F.Kennedy, Mark Twain and interestingly enough actor Jack Nicholson. Because the feel of a cigar is so important to its consumers, e-cigar manufacturers have tried to mimic the soft tip and papery feel of the cigar in their products. Veppo e-cigars have a full paper wrap and are textured to feel like a traditional cigar. Totally Wicked and Veppo products have a “soft-tip” that mimics the chewable texture that consumers appreciate in a cigar.

Antonio Villard Premium Electronic Cigars, which brands its cigars as “elegance -redefined” operates on a unique promotional strategy. The cigar company trains cigar girls and offers nightclubs, restaurants and private parties, the service of these cigar girls to add flair to the event and push through the company’s cigar.

As with the advertising of e-Cig products, the manufacturers of e-Cigars are keen to promote the fact that their product looks and feels like a cigar.

Cigarillos – ing14510

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The mid 1960’s saw an uptick in the little cigars market. These smaller cigars included flavors apart from tobacco(e.g., cherry, were milder than traditional cigars, and found a market among women. 1

Many of the advertisements in this section emphasize the mildness of the cigar and are targeted to women. In this section, you will come across a series of Tiparillo advertisements. In 1966, Tiparillo launched an advertising series “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lady?” While these advertisements were targeted at women, the ads focused more on female acceptance of cigars than use of the product. None of the women in the advertisement are actually seen using the product. A decade later, Tiparillo ran another advertising campaign, this one focused on female use of the product. In this series of advertisements for Tiparillo, the text suggest that times have changed as women have started to enjoy smoking the mild tasting cigar. Another brand, Wolf Brother’s Cherry Little Cigar even had a line in its advertising copy, “She’ll like them too.”

In 1971, RJR introduced its first little cigar, Winchester, which quickly became the largest selling brand of little cigars. The cigars were of the size and shape of cigarettes and contained a “filter tip” that “could easily be inhaled.” In one of its advertisements, a woman with a cowboy hat, her hair pulled around her face to create a mustache, is holding a Winchester cigar. The advertising text suggests that smoking the mild cigar is masculine.

Tobacco industry documents show that tobacco companies used flavors to mask the harshness of natural tobacco and target adolescents. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration prohibited the use of characterizing flavors (e.g., cherry, honey) except for mint in cigarettes.2 However, the use of such flavors in cigars, cigarillos and little cigars were not banned by the FDA. The availability of flavors among little cigars and their attractive pricing are making these cigars attractive to teenagers. In 2014, 63.5% of middle and high school students surveyed reported smoking a flavored mini cigar.3

1. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Press Announcement: Candy and Fruit Flavored Cigarettes Now Illegal in United States; Step is First Under New Tobacco Law. Published September 22, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm183211.htm.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking & Tobacco Use: Cigars. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/cigars/.

Sweet Cigars – ing11087

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There are different types of cigars available in the US- large cigars, cigarillos, and little cigars. Cigarillos are short and narrow cigars that are manufactured in a plethora of flavors ( e.g., peach, mango, cherry, grape, blueberry, wine, & white wine) that are attractively packaged and named to appeal to youth.

In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of characterizing flavors, except for menthol, in cigarettes.1 However, the ban did not extend to other flavored tobacco products including mini cigars and cigarillos. Declines in cigarette consumption were undermined by increases in the use of flavored tobacco products.2

A recent study found alcohol flavors being marketed by 88 unique cigar & cigarillo brands. The major 5 tobacco companies (Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris, Swedish Match, Scandinavian Tobacco Group and Swisher International) produce 15 brands of flavored cigars & cigarillos.2 The use of flavors increases the appeal of the tobacco product by decreasing the harsh taste of tobacco thereby making it easier for an individual to initiate with the product.3

Swisher, Inc., a leading manufacturer of cigarillos, offers a variety of chocolate, strawberry, peach, grape, and other flavored little cigars under the name “Swisher Sweets.” Phillies Cigarillos, another brand, also comes in a number of flavors. At one time, the brand even had a flavor called “Sugarillos” for “when sweet isn't sweet enough.” 4

With their colorful packages and store placement near candy, studies have shown that kids often mistake the shiny packages for candy. Apart from attractive flavors and names, cigar companies target youth through attractive pricing and packaging. Swisher Sweets often come in packages of two sticks for 99 cents, an attractive price for adolescents with limited discretionary funds. Among all flavored cigars, Swisher Sweets accounted for a preponderance of unit sales (52.6 million unit sales, 77.8% of total).4

References:

1. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Regulations restricting the sale and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to protect children and adolescents. Final Rule Fed Regist 2010;75:13225–3
2. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
3. Jackler RK, VanWinkle CK, Bumanlag IM, Ramamurthi D. (2017) Alcohol-Flavored Tobacco Products. Tob Con. [In print]
4. American Cancer Society.(2008) Big tobacco's guinea pigs: how an unregulated industry experiments on america's kids and consumers. Retrieved from https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/xkgm0222
5. CSP Daily News (April 15. 2016). Cigarette Convenience Store Sales Data from Year-End 2015. Retrieved from : http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-data/cmh/tobacco/tobacco-cigars-2016. Accessed on September 1, 2016.

Celebrities and Stars – img35559

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The relationship between celebrities and tobacco products has been longstanding. From the 1920s, tobacco companies have been using celebrities to endorse their tobacco products (e.g., 1928 Lucky Strike advertisement featuring actor Ann Andrews). In recent years, the cigar industry relying increasingly on celebrity endorsements and targeted marketing particularly in the movie and music industry. Prominent figures in the movie and music business whom have endorsed cigars include singer Justin Bieber, rapper Jay-Z, and actors Hugh Jackman, Robert De Niro, and Matthew McConaughey.

Celebrity music artist Calvin Broadus Jr., also known as “Snoop Dog”, launched his tobacco cigar and cigarillo brand Executive Branch in 2012, promoting it everywhere from major press sources, to music magazines, social media (e.g. Instagram), and popular music festivals like the 2012 Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Use of celebrities such as Snoop Dog has special attraction among youth, who are the most susceptible to being swayed by such endorsements. Snoop’s use of social media tools to promote the cigar has global reach. Snoop Dog has over “23 million likes on Facebook, 10+ million Twitter followers, and over 350,000 YouTube subscribers” – all of whom have probably viewed his multiple videos promoting cigars as “The Gentleman’s Choice.”  

In 1964, cigarette companies were banned from using testimonials from athletes, movie personalities, and other famous personalities who might be appealing to youth consumers. It is time that these rules applied to cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos.

1. Sterling, K., Moore, R., Pitts, N., & Duong, M. (2013). Exposure to Celebrity-Endorsed Small Cigar Promotions and Susceptibility to Use among Young Adult Cigarette Smokers. Journal and Environmental and Public Health . Retrieved May 30, 2017, from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2013/520286/.

2. Richardson, A., Ganz, O., & Valonne, D. (2013). The cigar ambassador: how Snoop Dogg uses Instagram to promote tobacco use.Tobacco Control. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2013/06/07/tobaccocontrol-2013-051037.full.pdf

African American – img35582

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In 2013, of the 29.8% of African American adults who reported “current use” (i.e. smoking in the past month), 7.5% of African American adults reported use of cigars. In fact, while cigarette consumption in America is declining, snuff and cigar has increased, prompting researchers to specifically address concerns about youth perceptions and smoking behaviors particularly amongst minority populations.1

Historically, tobacco companies have targeted advertising and promotional activities in minority communities; census tracts with a higher proportion of African American families and individuals have significantly higher tobacco retailer density. Furthermore, researchers in recent years have found that illicit sales to minors are much more common in African American neighborhoods, and that stores in these neighborhoods are less likely to request age identification for the purchase of tobacco products; exterior advertising for little cigars and cigarillos are also higher in many of these neighborhoods.2

Advertisements in this theme feature prominent “the everyday Dad.” For instance, an ad for White Owl features a dad smoking his cigar and enjoying a book with his two children on either side of him. The ad’s slogan says , White Owl is, “the cigar that Daddy smokes!”Ads by El Producto include testimonials from everyday professionals on the natural mildness of the cigar.

1. Dauphinee, A, et al. (2013). “Racial differences in cigarette brand recognition and impact on youth smoking,” BMC Public Health, 13:170, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586353/

2. Rodriguez, D, et al. (2017). “Predictors of tobacco outlet density nationwide: a geographic analysis,” Tobacco Control, Retrieved May 31, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3431432/

3. Bach, L. (2017). Tobacco Company Marketing to African Americans .Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids . Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0208.pdf.

4. Yerger V, Pearson C, Malone RE. (2001). When is a cigar not a cigar? African American youths' understanding of “cigar” use. American Journal of Public Health , 91: 316-7.

Children – img35599

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Children have played a huge role in tobacco advertising over the decades, and images of children fulfill multiple purposes for tobacco advertisers. Depictions of children with their mothers or fathers in cigarette advertisements reinforce the respectability of smoking as a part of normal family life.

In an advertisement for Dutch Masters Cigars, the image is a warm one of a cheerful boy happy in the embrace of his father. The text of the advertisement reads, “A son’s hug… a daughter’s kiss… what is so dear to a father’s heart as his family’s love.” For Father’s Day, Dutch Masters also had cigar packs with the image of a father and son printed on it. In another advertisement for Dutch Masters, the image is of a young boy playing in the backyard of his suburban home. On one hand he is carrying a toy truck, while the other hand is carrying a string of empty Dutch Master cartons. In the background, you see his younger sister on the swing.
In yet another ad by the cigar maker, this one Christmas theme, a dad is sitting around smoking his cigar while his children (boy and girl) are setting up a toy city. Empty Dutch Master boxes are used to build the homes and garages. The text of the advertisement notes, “As soon as dad hands over another empty Dutch Masters box, one more house will start to rise. And this is a building boom that dad’s happy to help along-because he finds consistent pleasure in a full box of Dutch Masters.”

The images of youngsters tends to send a reassuring message to consumers about the healthfulness of the product, representing purity, vibrancy, and life concepts which can be dangerous when tied to tobacco products. Use of children are an obvious ploy to attract females to smoking as part of the industry’s campaign to expand the pool of women smokers.

Sports – img35618

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The relationship between cigars and sports was first introduced to the public more than 25 years ago when a national sports magazine featured a variety of advertisements on sports-related cigar boxes drawn from the National Cigar History Museum collection.

Increasingly in the decades that followed, prominent athletes began making public claims that correlated positive sportsmanship and winning titles to smoking cigars and cigarettes. This attracted tobacco companies like Philies to market products including their “Miracle Mild” cigars for the full range of sports fanatics: young, old, major league stars, and college basketball players alike; examples of this can be found in numerous Phillies advertisements that playoff of the 1960’s baseball culture. One of their advertisements strategically position “Miracle Milds” alongside statistics showing the top batting scores of the National League, suggesting a correlation between the nation’s top players and their cigar product. Furthermore, Phillies prided itself on being “America’s No. 1” for “Year ‘Round Sports Programs,” riding on the backs of popular news channels to elevate their message (e.g. National Broadcasting Company – NBC).

 Cigar companies used celebrity endorsements to promote their products. Michael Jordan, arguably the biggest star in basketball history, was pictured with a cigar in hand on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1993. Similarly, former NBA Coach Red Auerbach, the powerful figure who guided the Boston Celtics to a nine out of ten championship win between 1949 and 1966, practiced a very public habit of smoking a cigar after each winning game that this image eventually evolved into a symbol of victory in the history of sports. Brands such as Te-amo in the past invited their fans to celebrate athletes’ victories with even a special free cigar offer (i.e. Dana Quigley’s 2001 SBC Senior Open and Te-Amo Cabinet Selection Cigar.

Healthy Cigars – img35628

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In the first half of the 20th century, tobacco companies were forthright with their health claims, featuring doctors hawking cigarettes or cigars in many of their ads. Consumers who saw these ads were made to feel that they would be following the doctor s orders to achieve health or fitness if they were to smoke the cigarettes advertised. Today, these nefarious health claims in tobacco ads are no longer so obvious; now, often words like pleasure or alive are keywords which indicate healthfulness. Doctors are no longer represented hawking cigarettes in ads, but the past audacity of tobacco companies is just as relevant in modern times.

At the time when many of these ads were printed, the public was worried about throat irritation due to smoking, and tobacco companies hoped that support from physicians would ease general concern. The none-too-subtle message was that if the doctor, with all his expertise, recommended a brand, then it must be safe.

In this theme, brands depict doctors hawking tobacco products in order to present the brand as healthful rather than harmful. An ad for Girard cigars has the image of a physician with a cigar in his hand accompanied by the following text, “Yes, I am a doctor. And I advise the smokers among my patients to smoke Girard cigars. In fact, I smoke them myself!..” The ad continues that the tobacco in Girard is “free from ill effects on the heart, the nerves or the digestion.” An ad by Thompson’s Mell-o-well has a physician recommending the brand of cigars to “any who are interested in regaining or keeping physical fitness.” It is ironic that in the process, they all manage to reveal the negative potential of tobacco by providing the consumer with the concept of an unhealthy cigarette or cigar in the first place.

Cigars – img37948

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Cigars are often advertised directly to men, and, indeed, are represented as highly masculinized and often genteel. An ad from the Cigar Institute of America in 1963, for example, lets men know that if they “wear a cigar,” they will “look smart.” Masculinity is sometimes approached through sexualization of the cigar, as in the Don Diegos ad from the 1990s featuring a woman sucking on a cigar or the Celesitino Vega ad from the same period, which features a Hawaiian surfer posing at the beach with a giant, phallic surfboard painted to resemble a cigar. Other times, masculinity is portrayed through a more reserved route, as in the 1950s ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which claims that “In the eyes of his own family, every father is a success. And the father who knows cigars knows a very special kind of success.” The family unit and the fatherly figure are referenced often in cigar ads.

In addition, cigars are seen as a means to celebrate. An ad for Antonio y Cleopatra cigars says, “When a moment is worth remembering enjoy a cigar that’s hard to forget.” In the same vein, pink or blue candy cigars are often given to a new father to celebrate the birth of a child.

Beyond these approaches, many cigar ads focus on throat ease, since unlike cigarette smoke, cigar smoke cannot be inhaled due to its high alkalinity. Though these ads advertise health benefits for cigar smoking – Girard says its smoke is mild, so doctors recommend it, and Mell-O-Well calls its smoke “the health cigar” — cigar smoking is associated with higher incidences of oral cancers than cigarette smoking, and nicotine is absorbed in higher levels as well. Still, and ad for White Owl cigars tells you to switch to cigars or pipes “when you can’t give up smoking.” The main reason? No need to inhale. Most misleading, perhaps, is a 1964 ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which proclaims, incorrectly, “Cigar smokers start young and stay young!”

Lady's Cigars – img38139

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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.

Sex Appeal – img38258

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The tobacco industry, including cigar companies, have for long used sex appeal to gain the attention of consumers.

In this section, you will see a lot of advertisements for Tiparillo cigars. The professional women in the advertisements (e.g., biologist, dentist, librarian etc) are presented as sexual objects. For instance, in the “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a violinist,” advertisement that appeared in Playboy magazine, the woman is seen intently gazing at the camera, with her silk shirt open and her cleavage exposed. The text that accompanies the advertisement is highly sexual in nature. A part of the advertisement reads, “Well, should you offer? After all, if she likes the offer, she might start to play. No strings attached.”

In another advertisement in the series, identical twins with pronounced cleavage are seen gazing at the camera. The green of their sweaters and the background is a subliminal nod to the menthol flavored Tiparillo. The open cigar pack with the phallic shaped cigar is pointed at the mouth of one of the twins. By portraying women in a sexual manner, the professionalism of the women is weakened and the women are nothing more than an object for male pleasure.

Although advertisements with sex appeal are primarily targeted at men, they also manipulate young women into believing that a certain brand of cigarette might make her sexier and more attractive to men.

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Along with doctors and dentists, nurses presented yet another health professional that had the potential to reassure consumers worried about the ill health effects of smoking. The none-too-subtle message was that if the nurse, with all of her expertise and her dedication to helping patients, chose to smoke a particular brand of cigarettes or even recommended a particular brand, then it must be safe.

As women began taking up the habit of smoking during the early 20th century, so did nurses in large numbers. It is interesting to note, however, that whereas the number of doctors who smoked plummeted drastically in the 1950s and 1960s when conclusive data linked smoking to lung cancer, smoking remained common among nurses. To this day, smoking is more prevalent among nurses than doctors in the United States. The Nurses’ Health Study shows that 8.4% of nurses smoked in 2003, whereas comparable data from 2005 from the Association of Medical Colleges reveals that only 1% of doctors smoke (1).

1. “Nurses’ Health Study shows nurses smoke more than doctors.” Nursing Times. 26 Nov 2008. .

Sex Sells – img3781

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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.

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Depictions of children with their mothers or fathers in cigarette ads have the enormous ability to reinforce the respectability of smoking as a part of normal family life. Because this perception is often promulgated by the tobacco industry, it is no surprise that many tobacco advertisements took advantage of Father’s Day. Indeed, many print ads, particularly from the Baby Boomer era, depict children gifting cigarette cartons to their fathers. The images of youngsters worked to send a reassuring message to consumers about the healthfulness of the product, as youngsters represent purity, vibrancy, and life – concepts which can be dangerous when tied to tobacco products. An R.J. Reynolds ad from 1953, for example, depicts a woman and her two children ready to surprise Dad with Cavaliers. The accompanying text speaks directly to children, essentially selling the tobacco products to kids: “Make your Dad’s eyes light up…as he lights up his favorite smoke…with love from you to him on Father’s Day” 1953

eCigars – img19458

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Currently, alternative cigarette products such as e-cigarettes, e-cigars and e-hookahs are in vogue. Vigorously marketed online and through sponsorships and celebrity endorsements as the safer, wiser and healthier alternative to conventional cigarette products, these products have caught the fancy of the public, especially teenagers.

E-cigars are marketed as products of refinement to powerful, and successful men who want to set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd. In its promotional materials, Veppo suggests that consumers who buy an e-cigar share a common bond with “powerful icons” such as Che Guvera, Winston Churchill, J.F.Kennedy, Mark Twain and interestingly enough actor Jack Nicholson. Because the feel of a cigar is so important to its consumers, e-cigar manufacturers have tried to mimic the soft tip and papery feel of the cigar in their products. Veppo e-cigars have a full paper wrap and are textured to feel like a traditional cigar. Totally Wicked and Veppo products have a “soft-tip” that mimics the chewable texture that consumers appreciate in a cigar.

Antonio Villard Premium Electronic Cigars, which brands its cigars as “elegance -redefined” operates on a unique promotional strategy. The cigar company trains cigar girls and offers nightclubs, restaurants and private parties, the service of these cigar girls to add flair to the event and push through the company’s cigar.

As with the advertising of e-Cig products, the manufacturers of e-Cigars are keen to promote the fact that their product looks and feels like a cigar.

Cigars – ing5725

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Cigars are often advertised directly to men, and, indeed, are represented as highly masculinized and often genteel. An ad from the Cigar Institute of America in 1963, for example, lets men know that if they “wear a cigar,” they will “look smart.” Masculinity is sometimes approached through sexualization of the cigar, as in the Don Diegos ad from the 1990s featuring a woman sucking on a cigar or the Celesitino Vega ad from the same period, which features a Hawaiian surfer posing at the beach with a giant, phallic surfboard painted to resemble a cigar. Other times, masculinity is portrayed through a more reserved route, as in the 1950s ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which claims that “In the eyes of his own family, every father is a success. And the father who knows cigars knows a very special kind of success.” The family unit and the fatherly figure are referenced often in cigar ads.

In addition, cigars are seen as a means to celebrate. An ad for Antonio y Cleopatra cigars says, “When a moment is worth remembering enjoy a cigar that’s hard to forget.” In the same vein, pink or blue candy cigars are often given to a new father to celebrate the birth of a child.

Beyond these approaches, many cigar ads focus on throat ease, since unlike cigarette smoke, cigar smoke cannot be inhaled due to its high alkalinity. Though these ads advertise health benefits for cigar smoking – Girard says its smoke is mild, so doctors recommend it, and Mell-O-Well calls its smoke “the health cigar” — cigar smoking is associated with higher incidences of oral cancers than cigarette smoking, and nicotine is absorbed in higher levels as well. Still, and ad for White Owl cigars tells you to switch to cigars or pipes “when you can’t give up smoking.” The main reason? No need to inhale. Most misleading, perhaps, is a 1964 ad from the Cigar Institute of America, which proclaims, incorrectly, “Cigar smokers start young and stay young!”

Cigarillos – ing14511

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The mid 1960’s saw an uptick in the little cigars market. These smaller cigars included flavors apart from tobacco(e.g., cherry, were milder than traditional cigars, and found a market among women. 1

Many of the advertisements in this section emphasize the mildness of the cigar and are targeted to women. In this section, you will come across a series of Tiparillo advertisements. In 1966, Tiparillo launched an advertising series “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lady?” While these advertisements were targeted at women, the ads focused more on female acceptance of cigars than use of the product. None of the women in the advertisement are actually seen using the product. A decade later, Tiparillo ran another advertising campaign, this one focused on female use of the product. In this series of advertisements for Tiparillo, the text suggest that times have changed as women have started to enjoy smoking the mild tasting cigar. Another brand, Wolf Brother’s Cherry Little Cigar even had a line in its advertising copy, “She’ll like them too.”

In 1971, RJR introduced its first little cigar, Winchester, which quickly became the largest selling brand of little cigars. The cigars were of the size and shape of cigarettes and contained a “filter tip” that “could easily be inhaled.” In one of its advertisements, a woman with a cowboy hat, her hair pulled around her face to create a mustache, is holding a Winchester cigar. The advertising text suggests that smoking the mild cigar is masculine.

Tobacco industry documents show that tobacco companies used flavors to mask the harshness of natural tobacco and target adolescents. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration prohibited the use of characterizing flavors (e.g., cherry, honey) except for mint in cigarettes.2 However, the use of such flavors in cigars, cigarillos and little cigars were not banned by the FDA. The availability of flavors among little cigars and their attractive pricing are making these cigars attractive to teenagers. In 2014, 63.5% of middle and high school students surveyed reported smoking a flavored mini cigar.3

1. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Press Announcement: Candy and Fruit Flavored Cigarettes Now Illegal in United States; Step is First Under New Tobacco Law. Published September 22, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm183211.htm.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking & Tobacco Use: Cigars. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/cigars/.

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There are different types of cigars available in the US- large cigars, cigarillos, and little cigars. Cigarillos are short and narrow cigars that are manufactured in a plethora of flavors ( e.g., peach, mango, cherry, grape, blueberry, wine, & white wine) that are attractively packaged and named to appeal to youth.

In 2009, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of characterizing flavors, except for menthol, in cigarettes.1 However, the ban did not extend to other flavored tobacco products including mini cigars and cigarillos. Declines in cigarette consumption were undermined by increases in the use of flavored tobacco products.2

A recent study found alcohol flavors being marketed by 88 unique cigar & cigarillo brands. The major 5 tobacco companies (Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris, Swedish Match, Scandinavian Tobacco Group and Swisher International) produce 15 brands of flavored cigars & cigarillos.2 The use of flavors increases the appeal of the tobacco product by decreasing the harsh taste of tobacco thereby making it easier for an individual to initiate with the product.3

Swisher, Inc., a leading manufacturer of cigarillos, offers a variety of chocolate, strawberry, peach, grape, and other flavored little cigars under the name “Swisher Sweets.” Phillies Cigarillos, another brand, also comes in a number of flavors. At one time, the brand even had a flavor called “Sugarillos” for “when sweet isn't sweet enough.” 4

With their colorful packages and store placement near candy, studies have shown that kids often mistake the shiny packages for candy. Apart from attractive flavors and names, cigar companies target youth through attractive pricing and packaging. Swisher Sweets often come in packages of two sticks for 99 cents, an attractive price for adolescents with limited discretionary funds. Among all flavored cigars, Swisher Sweets accounted for a preponderance of unit sales (52.6 million unit sales, 77.8% of total).4

References:

1. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Regulations restricting the sale and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to protect children and adolescents. Final Rule Fed Regist 2010;75:13225–3
2. Kostygina G, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry use of flavours to recruit new users of little cigars and cigarillos. Tob Con. 2016; 5:66–74.
3. Jackler RK, VanWinkle CK, Bumanlag IM, Ramamurthi D. (2017) Alcohol-Flavored Tobacco Products. Tob Con. [In print]
4. American Cancer Society.(2008) Big tobacco's guinea pigs: how an unregulated industry experiments on america's kids and consumers. Retrieved from https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/xkgm0222
5. CSP Daily News (April 15. 2016). Cigarette Convenience Store Sales Data from Year-End 2015. Retrieved from : http://www.cspdailynews.com/category-data/cmh/tobacco/tobacco-cigars-2016. Accessed on September 1, 2016.

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The relationship between celebrities and tobacco products has been longstanding. From the 1920s, tobacco companies have been using celebrities to endorse their tobacco products (e.g., 1928 Lucky Strike advertisement featuring actor Ann Andrews). In recent years, the cigar industry relying increasingly on celebrity endorsements and targeted marketing particularly in the movie and music industry. Prominent figures in the movie and music business whom have endorsed cigars include singer Justin Bieber, rapper Jay-Z, and actors Hugh Jackman, Robert De Niro, and Matthew McConaughey.

Celebrity music artist Calvin Broadus Jr., also known as “Snoop Dog”, launched his tobacco cigar and cigarillo brand Executive Branch in 2012, promoting it everywhere from major press sources, to music magazines, social media (e.g. Instagram), and popular music festivals like the 2012 Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Use of celebrities such as Snoop Dog has special attraction among youth, who are the most susceptible to being swayed by such endorsements. Snoop’s use of social media tools to promote the cigar has global reach. Snoop Dog has over “23 million likes on Facebook, 10+ million Twitter followers, and over 350,000 YouTube subscribers” – all of whom have probably viewed his multiple videos promoting cigars as “The Gentleman’s Choice.”  

In 1964, cigarette companies were banned from using testimonials from athletes, movie personalities, and other famous personalities who might be appealing to youth consumers. It is time that these rules applied to cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos.

1. Sterling, K., Moore, R., Pitts, N., & Duong, M. (2013). Exposure to Celebrity-Endorsed Small Cigar Promotions and Susceptibility to Use among Young Adult Cigarette Smokers. Journal and Environmental and Public Health . Retrieved May 30, 2017, from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2013/520286/.

2. Richardson, A., Ganz, O., & Valonne, D. (2013). The cigar ambassador: how Snoop Dogg uses Instagram to promote tobacco use.Tobacco Control. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2013/06/07/tobaccocontrol-2013-051037.full.pdf

Sports – img35619

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The relationship between cigars and sports was first introduced to the public more than 25 years ago when a national sports magazine featured a variety of advertisements on sports-related cigar boxes drawn from the National Cigar History Museum collection.

Increasingly in the decades that followed, prominent athletes began making public claims that correlated positive sportsmanship and winning titles to smoking cigars and cigarettes. This attracted tobacco companies like Philies to market products including their “Miracle Mild” cigars for the full range of sports fanatics: young, old, major league stars, and college basketball players alike; examples of this can be found in numerous Phillies advertisements that playoff of the 1960’s baseball culture. One of their advertisements strategically position “Miracle Milds” alongside statistics showing the top batting scores of the National League, suggesting a correlation between the nation’s top players and their cigar product. Furthermore, Phillies prided itself on being “America’s No. 1” for “Year ‘Round Sports Programs,” riding on the backs of popular news channels to elevate their message (e.g. National Broadcasting Company – NBC).

 Cigar companies used celebrity endorsements to promote their products. Michael Jordan, arguably the biggest star in basketball history, was pictured with a cigar in hand on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1993. Similarly, former NBA Coach Red Auerbach, the powerful figure who guided the Boston Celtics to a nine out of ten championship win between 1949 and 1966, practiced a very public habit of smoking a cigar after each winning game that this image eventually evolved into a symbol of victory in the history of sports. Brands such as Te-amo in the past invited their fans to celebrate athletes’ victories with even a special free cigar offer (i.e. Dana Quigley’s 2001 SBC Senior Open and Te-Amo Cabinet Selection Cigar.

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In the first half of the 20th century, tobacco companies were forthright with their health claims, featuring doctors hawking cigarettes or cigars in many of their ads. Consumers who saw these ads were made to feel that they would be following the doctor s orders to achieve health or fitness if they were to smoke the cigarettes advertised. Today, these nefarious health claims in tobacco ads are no longer so obvious; now, often words like pleasure or alive are keywords which indicate healthfulness. Doctors are no longer represented hawking cigarettes in ads, but the past audacity of tobacco companies is just as relevant in modern times.

At the time when many of these ads were printed, the public was worried about throat irritation due to smoking, and tobacco companies hoped that support from physicians would ease general concern. The none-too-subtle message was that if the doctor, with all his expertise, recommended a brand, then it must be safe.

In this theme, brands depict doctors hawking tobacco products in order to present the brand as healthful rather than harmful. An ad for Girard cigars has the image of a physician with a cigar in his hand accompanied by the following text, “Yes, I am a doctor. And I advise the smokers among my patients to smoke Girard cigars. In fact, I smoke them myself!..” The ad continues that the tobacco in Girard is “free from ill effects on the heart, the nerves or the digestion.” An ad by Thompson’s Mell-o-well has a physician recommending the brand of cigars to “any who are interested in regaining or keeping physical fitness.” It is ironic that in the process, they all manage to reveal the negative potential of tobacco by providing the consumer with the concept of an unhealthy cigarette or cigar in the first place.