User:Sandenisda/women&smoking

Women & Smoking is The cigarette industry began a strong marketing campaign geared toward women beginning in the 1920s. These campaigns became more aggressive as time has progressed and marketing in general became more prominent.

1920s-1940s
Tobacco companies began marketing cigarettes to appeal to women during the burgeoning women’s movement of the 1920s. The suffrage movement gave many women a sense of entitlement and freedom. The tobacco industry took advantage of the feel of the movement. American Tobacco Company began targeting women with its ads for Lucky Strikes. Lucky Strike sought to give women reasons they should be smoking Luckies. They employed ads featuring prominent women, such as Amelia Earhart, and appealed to the vanity of women by promising slimming effects. Most of the ads also conveyed a carefree and confident image of women that would appeal to the modern woman of the 1920s. The ads grew more extravagant with paid celebrity testimonials and far reaching claims of how Lucky Strikes could improve your life. Their most aggressive campaign directly challenged the candy industry by urging women to “reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet.” These aggressive campaigns paid off making Lucky Strike the most smoked brand within a decade.

Other companies followed the successful ad campaigns of the American Tobacco Company with their own versions. 1925 saw the introduction of Marlboro. Marlboro's were advertised as being as "mild as May" and had elegant ivory tips that appealed to women. Other brands offered similar ads appealing to a woman’s sense of beauty and style and made cigarettes an appealing part of many women’s lives. The ads liking vanity and beauty were quite women specific and did exactly what they were supposed to do. Women are still afraid of weight gain if they decide to quit smoking. The ad campaigns successfully promoted cigarettes as a product possessing specific qualities including equality, autonomy, glamour, and beauty.

1950’s-1970’s
The late 1950’s and early 1960’s brought about a new onslaught of cigarette brands. All of the cigarettes released during this time produced new claims regarding the superiority of smoking that brand and the benefits of using their product. The biggest emergence in cigarettes during this time period was the filtered cigarette. Filters were the newest spin on the cigarette. Filters offered the appearance, at least, of removing potentially harmful particles. Filters also made cigarettes easier and less harsh to smoke. The 1950s began the rebranding of Marlboros from an elite cigarette to an everyman’s cigarette and also saw the introduction of strong Marlboro men, such as athletes, cowboys, and other macho men. This change in Marlboro branding, meant Philip Morris needed another cigarette aimed at women.

The 1950s also began a boom in advertising for tobacco companies. Ads featuring prominent stars became much more commonplace. Tobacco companies also began sponsoring television shows, game shows, and other widespread media. One of the most popular was Philip Morris's sponsorship of the I Love Lucy show. The opener featured the two stars of the show with a giant pack of Philip Morris cigarettes. The show Your Hit Parade was proudly sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike brand.

Virginia Slims came on the market in 1968, and used the catch phrase “You’ve come a long way baby.” This was the first cigarette to be marketed solely as a woman’s cigarette. The cigarettes were longer, slimmer, and overall more elegant and feminine. The ads depicted photos of glamorous women set against photos of women doing mundane tasks such as laundry or housework. 1970 saw the release of Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company's entry into women specific cigarettes, Eve. Eve cigarettes were decidedly more feminine than Virginia Slims. Eve featured flowers or other feminine motifs on both the packaging and the cigarette themselves.