Cigarettes Throughout The Centuries

Cigarette sales and advertisements in American went from being noted as healthy and beneficial to being demoted to lethal and in

some places, illegal.

-At this time and point, many people did not know the risks and health hazards that they were taking smoking so many cigarettes. Men, women, teenagers, and even children were oblivious and smoked every cigarette like it was their last. The idolized woman was a sleek and regal woman with a cigarette resting in her hand.

-Robert K. Jackler, MD says “The idea was that if you show a physician being an enthusiastic partaker in smoking, the public gets the notion, ‘With what doctors know, if they choose to smoke this brand it must be a safer, better brand,’ or the public thought that smoking itself must be OK,” Jackler said.

-In order to increase their sales, Camel Cigarette Company begins using attractive females other than drawings to make the advertisements more enticing and realistic.

-In 1933, the ads went from women to athletes in order to promote a healthy image if you smoke cigarettes.

-Advertisements went as far as to say that cigarettes were a stimulant and helped digestion in order to improve the amount of cigarettes bought.

-2,357 cases of lung cancer were reported in America. The amount of white men dying from lung cancer was 3.8 per 100,000

- 2 packs for 25 cents and a carton for $1.20

Late 1920’s and 1930’s

- Cigarette ads adopt the catch phrase for their “T-Zone”- T for taste and T for throat. “Taste them in your T-zone” began appearing on cartons of Camel cigarettes.

-Camels use celebrities in their ads and begin using commercials and continue to use the “T-Zone”

- John Wayne was used in both commercials and advertisements during the 1950’s and in 1964, he had a lung removed and soon after died of lung and stomach cancer.

-In the late 1950’s, Camel’s portrayed cigarettes as a de-stresser and should be used to relax

- In 1953, Dr. Ernst L. Wynder conducted an experiment where he put tar on the back of mice and it ultimately caused cancer. This was the first evidence of direct correlation between cigarettes and cancer.

Deaths relating back to cigarettes increase by over 5,000 per year. - Surgeon General Luther Terry announces in his “Smoking and Health: Report of the

Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States “ that cigarettes are directly connected to lung cancer and chronic bronchitis and cigarette smoking and in turn, tobacco companies were required to put a warning label on their packages.

1950’s

-A law was passed to keep cigarette ads off of the television. Subsequently, and oddly, cigarette sales actually increased because anti-smoking ads had to pay even more now to get their ads on T.V.

-Camels begin depending on their filter and use the slogan “Camel Filters. They’re not for everybody (but they could be for you).” It evidently does not work so they go back to the tough guy image where a woman is staring at him in every picture.

-Camel introduces a “light cigarette” which claims to have lower tar and nicotine numbers  -Marlboro was Camel’s greatest competition and soon mimics them by cutting down on wordy

advertisements and putting slogans into a much simpler form. EX: “It’s a whole new world.” “Where a man belongs.” And it is apparent that women are no longer their prime targets for advertising

1970’s

1980’s -Marlboro was Camel’s greatest competition and soon mimics them by cutting down on words and

putting slogans into a much simpler form. EX: “It’s a whole new world.” “Where a man belongs.” And it is apparent that women are no longer their prime targets for advertising

  1990’s -Camel gives up on the macho man appeal and switches to the cartoon “Joe Camel”…”Smooth

character” which seems to appeal to children with its cartoonish persona and is banned which is interesting because 50 years prior to this, Winston cigarettes were using the Flinstones to advertise their cigarettes.

-With the turn of the industry from romantic and appealing to modern, Camel uses modern-day satirical comedy in their ads which begins to appeal to teenagers as well as children.

1980’s and 1990’s

2000’s -Camel ditches the goofy ads and goes straight to business with 1950’s men and women on their

advertisements. -“Pleasure to burn” becomes their new catch phrase. -They introduce “flavored” cigarettes including “Twista Lime”, “Warm Winter Toffee”, and “Beach

Breezer”. -Notice the blunt surgeons general warning at the bottom

Today: Unlike the doctors in the 1930’s who promoted smoking, doctors are now trying to get people to

quit smoking cigarettes due to the fact that it has been proven to cause multiple types of cancer. And as many of us have seen, Ads such as “Truth” which exposes the faults in cigarette advertising are now broadcasted on MTV and other various channels in order to get the point that smoking not only burns a hole in your pocket, but your lungs as well.

Many places have also made cigarette smoking illegal Magazines such as Cosmopolitan have banned cigarette advertisements in their pages, especially

Camel. The company began using a pink and black advertisement in order to visually stimulate young girls to buy their “beautiful” products.

Present Day

Borio, Gene. "Tobacco Timeline." Tobacco.org. 2007. 22 May 2009      <http://www.tobacco.org/resources/history/Tobacco_History20-1.html>.

"Cigarettes Were Once ‘Physician’ Tested, Approved." HemOncToday. 10 Mar. 2009.      History of Medicine. 22 May 2009 <http://www.hemonctoday.com/      article.aspx?rid=37712>.

Martin, Terry. "Cancer Statistics." About.com. 10 Aug. 2005. 22 May 2009      <http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tobaccostatistics/a/cancerstats.htm>.

Pletton, Leroy J. "Dr. Pearl's Famous 1938 Death Rates Data ." Medicolegal.      1999. 22 May 2009 <http://medicolegal.tripod.com/pearl1938.htm>.

References