Inhale With Caution: A History of Cigarette Advertising

Written By Max Gibson

1,000–the number of Americans under the age of 18 that become regular smokers (on a daily basis) everyday. – Office of the Surgeon General

443,000–the estimated annual total deaths, resulting from tobacco related products. More than the combined total deaths caused by alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide and illegal drugs combined. – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

193 billion–the estimated cost of cigarette smoking in the United States each year in terms of health care expenditures and lost productivity. – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

It’s hard to deny the allure of cigarettes. A fixture within the cultural history of America and beyond, the cigarette has in many ways come to symbolize the intangible essence of cool. Promoted through a multitude of ad campaigns, and as a fixture in Hollywood films, the cigarette has played a pivotal role in constructing an aura of effortless cool.

Today the marketing landscape for cigarettes has changed drastically from its early years. First introduced to the American public through an advertisement in a local New York newspaper in 1789, it was in fact the Lorillard Tobacco Company that brought tobacco advertising to America.

However, while Lorillard was the first company to actively promote cigarettes to the public, it was a farmer by the name of John Green who would form the first nationally recognized tobacco brand. Following the Civil War, both Union and Confederate soldiers raided Green’s tobacco farm in Durham, North Carolina. Quickly falling for the addictive pleasures of tobacco, many soldiers wrote to Green requesting more of the substance. From these humble beginnings, Green went on to form the Bull Durham Tobacco Company, a corporation which manufactured and distributed tobacco via rail.

Although the Bull Durham Company was responsible for spreading tobacco throughout much of the country, two key innovations in the cigarette manufacturing process soon revolutionized the tobacco industry as a whole. The first major innovations of the time came through printing, with the invention of the color lithograph in the late 1870’s. Lithography created a low-cost method for printing text or artwork onto a number of surfaces. For the tobacco industry, the lithograph offered a multitude of marketing possibilities. For the first time, companies had the power to market themselves creatively through packaging and advertising, allowing them to reach their target demographic in new and creative ways.

The second innovation for the industry came through the advancement of cigarette rolling capabilities. In an attempt to industrialize the tobacco production process, a Virginia-based tobacco manufacturing firm known as Allen & Ginter offered a $75,000 reward to anyone who could invent a machine capable of rolling cigarettes. Previously rolled by hand, a well-trained cigarette roller could roll about four cigarettes a minute. With a budding market eager to consume their product, the industry was in need of a faster method of production. In 1881 James Albert Bonsack won the competition, building a machine that could roll 200 cigarettes a minute. Needless to say, Bonsack’s invention revolutionized the industry. All but one of the large cigarette manufacturers purchased the machine in the following years.

As America entered the 20th century, tobacco marketers promoted cigarettes as a cure-all product. Claiming that cigarettes could heal anything from weight-loss to asthma, popular slogans of the era spoke to cigarettes’ beneficial attributes. Dr. R. Schiffman’s Asthmador Cigarettes, for example, claimed to “relieve the distress of bronchial asthmatic paroxysms,” ironically enough.

In addition to freshly designed packaging, the cigarette card also became a staple of advertising for many tobacco companies. Used as a means to stiffen cigarette packaging the cards doubled as unique marketing material. Featuring the famous faces of movie stars and popular athletes, cigarette cards served as a novelty collector’s item aimed at enhancing the allure of cigarettes. Although the cards lost their popularity during World War II when cigarette supplies became scarce, the decline in production led to a high value for the cards today. Some cigarette cards fetching enormous prices, like Honus Wagner’s Pittsburg Pirates card that sold for an upwards of $2 million.

The Second World War would do much to raise awareness for cigarettes not only at home, but also abroad. When soldiers were issued free packs of cigarettes as GI C-Rations during the war, millions fell victim to the addictive properties of nicotine. For the tobacco industry it was a gold mine that would last for decades.

Virtually unregulated following the war and into the 1950’s, tobacco advertisers continued to aggressively promoted their brands. Many refer to this time as tobacco’s “Golden Age.” Free to market their products to practically anyone, tobacco companies began to find “reputable sources” to preach the gospel of cigarettes to the general public. Depicting everyone from doctors and dentists, to celebrities and infants embracing cigarettes, the tobacco industry cleverly intertwined the cigarette with various sectors of American life, and in turn popular culture. Some tobacco brands went as far as to sponsor television shows, and even cartoons, where recognizable characters were depicted smoking cigarettes.

Following mounting accusations from doctors and researchers that revealed the destructive nature of cigarette smoking, a growing correlation between smoking and lung cancer drove competing tobacco brands to embrace the “filtered” cigarette. Considered a specialty item until 1954, tobacco companies began to mass-produce the filtered cigarette claiming that it reduced the amount of tar and nicotine that would enter the lungs from smoking. Subsequently tobacco brands positioned the filtered cigarette as a healthier smoking option.

For many tobacco brands the filtered cigarette provided a new angle from which to market their products. One television short featured Flintstones characters Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble sharing their joy of filtered cigarettes. The one-minute ad, produced by Winston, depicts the two characters trying to get some rest. When Fred suggests that the two take a nap, Barney interjects to propose that they instead take a “Winston’s break.” Soon after, the duo are shown enjoying a filtered cigarette together. “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should!” exclaims Fred as the credits begin to roll. “The Flintstones have been brought to you by Winston, America’s best selling, best tasting, filtered cigarette,” states the television announcer as the scene ends. Through television ads like the Flintstone’s themed clip, tobacco advertisers harnessed the rise of home television in America as the optimal medium through which to reach their target audience.

While the 1950’s were considered the tobacco industry’s golden age, tobacco research on behalf of the Surgeon General Advisory Committee would lead to legislative measures that would alter the marketing tactics of tobacco advertisers. Revelations regarding cigarettes damaging consequences led to numerous restrictions for tobacco advertisers, culminating in the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965. The legislation forced tobacco companies to place warnings on all of their packaging on behalf of the Surgeon General, while a 1969 amendment to the act made companies place warnings on all advertising material as well. 1971 marked the year tobacco advertising was removed from radio and television, although the ban went into effect on January 2nd, as tobacco advertisers compromised to allow for one more day of advertising during the college football bowl games on the first of that year.

By 1972 the Marlboro brand had edged out Winston as the best-selling cigarette in the world, while the publication of cigarettes harmful effects compelled many tobacco brands to shift the focus of their advertisements. The Marlboro Man, a rugged and independent male figure used to promote Marlboro cigarettes was originally conceived in 1954. Yet while his persona rarely varied throughout the years, the presence of cigarettes in Marlboro Man ads grew subtler during the 1970’s. Originally depicting the act of smoking in the 60’s and early 70’s, cigarettes in Marlboro Man ads went from visible and in use, to an accessory to nearly nonexistent towards the end of the 1980’s. Although the cigarette has become even less visible in recent years, the Marlboro campaigns helped establish the Marlboro Man as one of the most iconic images in the of the tobacco industry.

Another widely known initiative, aimed to promote cigarettes’ aura of coolness came in the form of Joe Camel in 1987. An ultra-suave, highly sophisticated camel caricature, Joe Camel came to exemplify the cool image Camel and other cigarette companies had been marketing for years. Depicting him in stylish suits, and surrounded with women and luxury, the campaign initiative alluded to an imaginary lifestyle that could only be obtained through smoking. Simultaneously, the Joe Camel image was heavily criticized by the American Medical Association for intentionally targeting children in their advertisements. A 1991 study by the association found that among 5 and 6 year old children, the Joe Camel image was in fact more recognizable than Mickey Mouse. Ten years later, the Joe Camel campaign was dropped, as Camel faced mounting opposition from the U.S. Congress and public interest groups. The once uber-cool, cartoonish camel was replaced by the original (pre-1915), animalistic image of a camel that is still used today.

Today, legislation has done much to quell the subliminal rhetoric of tobacco advertising. On June 22, 2009, President Obama signed a law that imposed stricter regulations on the advertising of tobacco. Known as the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the new legislation would significantly alter the presentation of tobacco advertising campaigns. By forcing companies to present their ads in text-only black and white format, the new laws serve to further curb the appeal of smoking advertisements.

“More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette,” claimed the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1949. “To keep a slender figure, no one can deny a Lucky Strike,” read another ad in 1953. For decades tobacco advertisements have served to present cigarettes as the single item to enhance one’s life and appearance. In some respects the tobacco advertisements of the past can also be noted for their brilliance. “It was genius put towards ill will,” remarked Stanford MD, Robert Jackler.

This year alone, over 1 trillion cigarettes will be sold across the globe, which will rack up another $400 billion for the tobacco industry.