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Cigarette Advertising

Tobacco advertising can be seen in the United States as early as the year the Constitution was ratified, as local tobacco companies placed advertisiements in local newspapers. However, these advertisements were primarily for tobacco and snuff, with cigarette advertising not becoming prominent until the late 1800s upon the invention of two important technologies. First, color lithography was invented in the late 1870s which revolutionized advertising for cigarette companies who could now strengthen and promote their identities to consumers. Now companies could make collectible cigarette cards with every cigarette pack and these cards became very popular. They often pictured people such as movie stars, athletes, and even Native American chiefs. However, these collectible cards were eventually discontinued to save paper during World War II. The second invention was a cigarette-making machine developed in the 1880s that vastly increased the productivity of cigarette companies, who went from making approximately 40,000 hand-rolled cigarettes daily to around 4 million.

The decades in the 20th century prior to World War II consisted primarily of full page, color magazine and newspaper advertisements. Many companies created slogans for their specific cigarettes and also gained endorsements from famous men and women. Some advertisements even contained children or doctors in their efforts to sway new customers to their specific brand. Much of these advertisements sought to make smoking appear fashionable and modern to men and women. Also, since the health effects of smoking weren't entirely proven at this time, the only real opposing argument to smoking was made on moral grounds. However, there were still a substantial amount of doctors and scientists who believed there was a health risk associated with smoking cigarettes. During World War II, cigarettes were included in American soldier's C-rations since many tobacco companies sent the soldiers cigarettes for free. Cigarette sales reached an all time high at this point, as cigarette companies were not only able to get soldiers addicted to nicotine, but specific brands also found a new loyal group of customers as soldiers who smoked their cigarettes returned from the war.

After World War II, cigarette companies advertised frequently on television programs. To combat this move by the cigarette companies, the Federal Communications Commission required television stations to air anti-smoking advertisements at no cost to the organizations providing such advertisements.In 1970, Congress took their anti-smoking initiative one step further and passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, banning the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio starting on January 2, 1971.After the television ban, most cigarette advertising took place in magazines, newspapers, and on billboards. However, in 1999 all cigarette billboard advertisements were replaced with anti-smoking messages, with some of these anti-smoking messages playing parodies of cigarette companies advertising figures and slogans. Since 1984, cigarette companies have also been forced to place Surgeon's General warnings on all cigarette packs and advertisements because of the passing of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act. Restrictions on cigarette companies became even tighter in 2010 with the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The act prohibits tobacco companies from sponsoring sports, music, and other cultural events and also prevents the display of their logos or products on T-shirts, hats, or other apparel. The constitutionality of both this act and the Food and Drug Administration's new graphic cigarette warning labels are being questioned under cigarette companies' first amendment rights.

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