Smoking in Advertising

HistoryThe first known advertisement in the USA was for the snuff and tobacco products of P. Lorillard and Company and was placed in the New York daily paper in 1789. Advertising was an emerging concept, and tobacco-related adverts were not seen as any different from those for other products: their negative impact on health was unknown at the time. Local and regional newspapers were used because of the small-scale production and transportation of these goods. The first real brand name to become known on a bigger scale in the USA was "Bull Durham" which emerged in 1868, with the advertising placing the emphasis on how easy it was "to roll your own". The development of colour lithography in the late 1870s allowed the companies to create attractive images to better present their products. This led to the printing of pictures onto the cigarette cards.By the last quarter of the 19th century, magazines such as Punch carried advertisements for different brands of cigarettes, snuff, and pipe tobacco. Advertising was significantly helped by the distribution of free or subsidized branded cigarettes to troops during World War I and World War II.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, there was advertising campaigns for smoking such as these:

Many of the campaigns had very eye-catching ideas: for example, having respected positions, such as dentists (see left) or scientists (bottom right), make people believe that smoking was good, made people think that buying them was good, causing those smoking companies to gain profit from smoking sales.

Smoking was also advertised through the film industry. Many films from the 1950s and 60s featured one of the main characters smoking AND putting emphasis on that smoking. It still appears consistently within many major films. Using film stars in advertising also became a common theme, the poster below showing movie star John Wayne advertising Camel cigarettes.

Tobacco advertising has been hand-in-hand with many sports internationally. Below are some sports.

One of the major sports to contain this sponsorship was Formula One.• The first F1 team to feature sponsorships from

cigarette companies was Lotus back in 1968 (top right).

• The Ferrari F1 team has had Marlboro as one of its key sponsors since the mid 1980s, but were only one of many cars to feature smoking sponsorship. (middle right)

• The first major F1 team to not feature a tobacco advert since their inception in 1968 was WilliamsF1, who did so in 2000. (bottom right)

20 Facts On Smoking in Advertising1. Cigarettes are the single-most

traded item on the planet, with approximately 1 trillion being sold from country to country each year. At a global take of

more than $400 billion, it’s one of the world’s largest industries.

2. The nicotine content in several major brands is reportedly on the rise. Harvard University and the

Massachusetts Health Department revealed that

between 1997 and 2005 the amount of nicotine in Camel, Newport, and Doral cigarettes

may have increased by as much as 11 percent.

3. In 1970, President Nixon signed the law that placed warning labels

on cigarettes and banned television advertisements for cigarettes. The last date that

cigarette ads were permitted on TV was extended by a day, from December 31, 1970 to January 1,

1971 to allow the television networks one last cash windfall from cigarette advertising in the New Year’s Day football games.

4. U.S. cigarette manufacturers now make more money selling

cigarettes to countries around the globe than they do selling to

Americans.

5. The American brands Marlboro, Kool, Camel and Kent own roughly 70% of

the global cigarette market.

6. Cigarettes contain arsenic, formaldehyde, lead, hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen

oxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and 43 known

carcinogens.

7. In the early 1950s, the Kent brand of cigarettes

used crocidolite asbestos as part of the filter, a known

active carcinogen.

8. Urea, a chemical compound that is a major

component in urine, is used to add “flavour” to

cigarettes.

9. The ‘Cork Tip’ filter was originally invented in 1925

by Hungarian inventor Boris Aivaz, who patented the process of making the

cigarette filter from crepe paper. All kinds of filters

were tested, although ‘cork’ is unlikely to have been one

of them.

10. In most countries around the world, the legal

age for the purchase of tobacco products is now 18,

raised from 16, while in Japan the age minimum is

20 years old.

11. Contrary to popular social belief, it is NOT illegal to smoke tobacco products at any age.

Parents are within the law to allow minors to smoke, and minors are within the law to smoke tobacco

products freely. However, the SALE of tobacco products is highly

regulated with legal legislation.

12. Smoking bans in many parts of the world have been employed

as a means to stop smokers smoking in public. As a result, many social businesses have

claimed a significant drop in the number of people who go out to

pubs, bars and restaurants.

13. Scientists claim the average smoker will lose 14

years of their life due to smoking. This however does not necessarily mean that a smoker will die young – and

they may still live out a ‘normal’ lifespan.

14. Cigarettes can contain

more than 4,000 ingredients, which, when burned, can also produce

over 200 ‘compound’ chemicals. Many of these ‘compounds’ have been linked to lung damage.

15. According to the World Health Organization,

approximately 25% of cigarettes sold around the

world are smuggled.

16. Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds after smoke is inhaled. It has been found in every part of the body and in

breast milk.

17. Most smokers take up the habit in their mid teens, well

before the legal age for purchasing them, and is seen as a

right of passage towards adulthood. Other perceived rights of passage include: aftershave, wearing stilettos, alcohol, drugs and sexual intercourse; with a

combination of these sometimes being cited as the main causes of

teenage pregnancy.

18. Smoking tobacco is the ultimate gateway drug in that it is

legally available, and involves mastering a unique method of intake – much more so than alcohol (which has such a

significant effect that users need look no further for stimulation).

Smokers looking to get ‘high’ will very rarely do so from cigarettes after the initial stages of taking

up the habit.

19. ‘Lite’ cigarettes are manufactured with air holes around the filter to aerate

the smoke as it is drawn in. Many smokers have learned

to cover these holes with their fingers or their lips to

get a stronger hit.

20. The immune systems of smokers has to work harder

every day than non-smokers. As a result, a

smokers’ blood will contain less antioxidants, although a smokers immune system may be quicker to respond to virus attacks due to its

more active nature.