10 Types Of Ridiculous Ads Tobacco Companies Try To Fool You With
go into the background and depth of the reality of these advertisements.
1. I AM WOMAN! SEE ME SMOKE!
Virginia Slims are a brand of cigarettes that are "just for women." These cigarettes are advertised to women because of the skinny, long, elegant looks of the cigarette. Virginia Slims are viewed as lady-like due to their limited amount of smoke given off. Their tagline "You've come a long way baby" is a stab at where the women's movement has brought us to. So the ads are supposed to have women feel empowered from overcoming such obstacles like women's suffrage and owning property (which is where the "how far you come" comes from.) And now women are also supposed to feel empowered by having our own cigarette brand for our gender? I don't think women such as Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem were preaching about fighting for freedom of cigarettes, do you? The brand still exists today and still targets solely women with new things such as the "purse sized pack" for traveling, but the tagline has changed over the years because of the modern day woman thinking the tagline is a bit drastic. But the tagline has now been changed to "Find your voice"--STILL EMPOWERING SINCE US WOMEN ARE MEEK!! AM I RIGHT?!?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt5_utNSRsk
"Virginia Slims." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 July 2014. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
2. Smooth as a baby's butt
3. Live Free and DIE
Of course fighting for our beautiful country of America leads to smoking which is a contribution to that fight, right?? Wartime for America created a boom in the tobacco industry. Smoking was a way in which the soldiers could mask the conditions they were living in overseas, and gave them a means of escaping. During the times of World War I cigarettes were actually sent over seas so that they would boost the soldier's moral because of the positive psychological effect they had. Even anti-tobacco companies were all for the distribution of cigarettes if it meant winning the war. These advertising agencies made it seem that the common American in the states was fighting the good fight and contributing to the war effort buy spending a couple of bucks on a pack of cigs. I mean it worked, because the industry was booming. The New York Times supported the efforts of tobacco usage by saying cigarettes "lightened the inevitable hardships of war", and others described cigarettes as the "last and only solace of the wounded"(Brandt). With World War II, "tobacco companies continued to foster this culture of wartime smoking by sending free cigarettes to troops and supporting the inclusion of cigarettes into the soldiers' rations"(Joseph). Ads also encouraged the people back home send support by actually sending the cigarettes themselves. Even though there was major discoveries in the 1950s about the risks and health effects of smoking and the use of tobacco, the US military continued to add cigarettes as part of their rations until 1975.
http://file.vintageadbrowser.com/r155vdfb1sjlfa.jpg
Brandt, Allan M. The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America. New York: Basic Books, 2007. Print.
Joseph, Ann M., Monique Muggli, Katheryn C. Pearson, and Harry Lando. "The Cigarette Manufacturers’ Efforts to Promote Tobacco to the U.S. Military." The Cigarette Manufacturers' Efforts to Promote Tobacco to the U.S. Military. Association of Military Surgeons of the United States Read More at Http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/279478/the_cigarette_manufacturers_efforts_to_promote_tobacco_to_the_us/#ucbGuQTX5IJJyldB.99, 21 Oct. 2005. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
"Smoking in the United States Military." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 May 2014. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
4. An Apple and Cig a day, DOESN'T Keep the Doctor Away
This ad is just down right ridiculous in making the consumer believe that a doctor is encouraging smoking and the use of tobacco. People of the 40's and 50's believed in advertisements that showed doctors and medical statistics saying the product was bad or good. Advertising agencies played into this trust of the public in doctors and medical researchers, and it allowed them to manipulate the public's naive education of the harms of cigarette smoking and consumption of tobacco. This is completely false in accordance to today's time. Doctors have discovered and put on record that smoking is the number one cause of preventable death and disease worldwide. A single cigarette contains thousands of harmful chemicals that enter your body after the first inhale of the product. These chemicals go into your blood stream and travel throughout your body. One of the most dangerous things about smoking is the release of carbon monoxide into your body. This gas (along with the other chemicals) causes harm to every part of your body it comes in contact with. Your body then gets addicted to the nicotine in the cigarettes and then your body craves to have more. The carbon monoxide and the nicotine cause high blood pressure and high heart rate. Your blood also becomes thin due to the carbon monoxide, so it is hard to create a steady flow of blood to your heart and to other organs of the body. The tar that is in cigarettes builds up overtime in a person's lungs, which blocks airflow. Also, when some of the thousands of harmful chemicals come in contact with your body a couple of times over a period of time, your body starts to break down and becomes vulnerable, which leads to cancerous cells taking over that body part. Multiple cancers are linked to tobacco consumption such as the obvious lung, mouth, and throat cancer--and the not so obvious kidney, cervix, pancreas, bladder, stomach, and acute myeloid leukemia. In addition to damage to the lungs, tobacco consumption can be a cause for aneurysms, bronchitis, stroke, and diseases of the heart. Studies have also paired smoking to the harm of a woman's reproductive system, which could reduce her fertility and gives a woman a higher risk of a miscarriage. So if you saw the article in today's time, a person would laugh at this and pray it was a joke because no doctor in their right mind would condone tobacco consumption, and if they did someone should report them right away so they can get their medical license taken away!
Coffman, Lisa. "Why Is Smoking Cigarettes Bad for You?" LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
Tang, Kay. "Why Are Cigarettes Bad?" EHow. Demand Media, 03 Oct. 2010. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
5. Four Score and Three Packs Ago
This ad shows a African American couple looking cool while smoking a fresh pack of Winston cigarettes. This ad makes the common folk think that these two people feel that Winston cigarettes are the only choice for them, which could appeal to African American as the only brand of cigarettes for them too. What these advertisement agencies forget is the tobacco background African American have. The average educated human being should remember that the African Americans were slaves on plantations, typically growing tobacco. North Carolina was a main zone for tobacco farming and the plantations required slave work--which typically becomes the work of people born into slavery. Many of the slaves were pushed to their limits physically to make sure that the products were produced in tip top shape. Planters of tobacco were skilled enslaved males and the women were mainly responsible for the home life. Conditions for the slaves were very harsh; weather conditions lead the slaves to heat exhaustion or to being extremely cold. Food and water on the job was rare which lead to sluggish performance, which would then lead to punishment if the boss caught them "slacking." Punishment would provide extreme pain and a large toll on a emotional level for these men, women, children, and families. SO NEXT TIME AFRICAN AMERICANS THINK SMOKING IS "REAL & RICH & COOL" THEY MIGHT WANT TO REMEMBER THE CONDITIONS SLAVES WENT THROUGH TO GET THE TOBACCO.
Kulikoff, Allan. "Tobacco and Slaves." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 July 2014. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
"Slave Labor on Tobacco Plantations." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Nov. 2013. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
6. Pleasure to Burn
Camel launched a series of ads with young, attractive, sultry men and women on it with the tagline "pleasure to burn." The advertising company was targeting the consumer into thinking that if they purchased these cigarettes then they, too, can be young, attractive and sultry, and that they, too, can experience pleasure of some sort. But the reality of this is very much the opposite. Smoking cigarettes has been reported to reduce your sexual desire and in fact can make you tired or out of breath during the actual act of intercourse. Since blood flow is very slow due to the thinning of blood from carbon monoxide, a man's genitals have trouble becoming erect. Chemicals from the cigarettes also effect and decrease the sperm count in men. With women, damage to the ovaries can occur due to the harsh chemicals and can cause serious pain. Smoking can decrease a woman's fertility rate, and it can cause menopause early. Most women are actually turned off when men smoke and vise versa--some say it is due to the lingering residue of it. SO these ads just contradict themselves because cigarettes don't provide you with pleasure, they provide you with sexual dysfunctions and a unattractive odor.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PfGPVSf7eSM/TqQNiur45II/AAAAAAAAfTw/jmM9qtQyW0Y/s1600/Camel_Logo14.jpg
"Is Smoking Attractive?" GirlsAskGuys. GirlsAskGuys, n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
"Smoking." Smoking Site Wide Activity RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
Weiss, Ken. "Smoking Cigarettes Causes Impotence or Erectile Dysfunction." Hive Health Media. Hive Health Media, 26 Nov. 2010. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
7. LIGHTS, CAMERA, CANCER
Everyone grows up watching certain celebrity icons and has the dreams of being just like them. Since advertising companies know of the influence celebrities have over the average consumer, they use their star power to endorse their products. One of the most popular advertisers of cigarettes was Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz endorsing Philip Morris cigarettes on and off the screen of their hit TV show "I Love Lucy." But behind all of the glitz and glamour of smoking and wanting to be like your favorite actor or singer comes the harsh reality and consequences of smoking and the use of tobacco. And these celebrities aren't immune to the destructive effects of the usage of tobacco. DID YOU KNOW that Lucille Ball AND Desi Arnaz BOTH died due to smoking induced illness?!?! Desi died from lung cancer and Lucille died from a aortic aneurism due to smoking? So the product that they were selling to millions of people was in fact the thing that killed them. Hmm...funny how that panned out. More celebrities that died due to smoking related sicknesses include Ed Sullivan (lung cancer), Ulysses S Grant (throat cancer), Nat King Cole (lung cancer), and Jack Wild (mouth cancer). All of these celebrities probably didn't know the short and long term damage these products cause to the body that the people of today know about. Education regarding the harm in products like these could have prevented the early deaths of some of these beloved celebrities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1A_zkUtGvw
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/ca/8b/e3/ca8be31ee4cbb33f0aa4275a3e98cabf.jpg
"227 Famous People Who Died Because They Smoked..." Smoke Away Stop Smoking Resources. N.p., 29 Nov. 2007. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
Szymanski, Mallory. "Unit 2." AMH2020. Keene-Flint Hall, Gainesville. July 20114. Lecture.
8. Baseball, Apple Pie, and SKOAL
Ahhhhhhhh the American Dream.....and cigarettes? The two go hand-in-hand. Right? WRONG. Still, to this day, billions of people smoke and chew tobacco even with all of the knowledge that in doing so you are destroying your body. During the times from the 20's to the 60's smoking and chewing tobacco were just another part of the daily routine of the life of your average American. Everyone was using tobacco, from movie stars, to baseball player, to cops, to politicians, to your next door neighbor who works at the local lumber yard. When the knowledge of how bad the usage of tobacco started spreading to the public, organizations started making rules as to reducing the use of tobacco, in order to lower the risk of damaging your health. To this day tobacco consumption is the leading cause of preventable death. One of the most recent discussions regarding tobacco usage is the MLB's talk about banning the use of chewing tobacco starting in the 2016 season. It is already a rule in the minors that dip is prohibited, but there is a green light for it in the majors. Though officials are hoping individuals decide to stop on their own, there has been an uprising of getting the ball rolling on making this a set rule due to multiple deaths of former players who have admitted their tobacco usage caused their sickness. If this becomes an actual rule, the players' contracts starting in 2016 would say that "players may not carry tobacco packages and tins in their back pockets when fans are permitted in ballparks, and they may not use tobacco during pregame and postgame interviews and at team functions"(Blum). Nothing seems more AMERICAN than BASEBALL, so if that sport nixes tobacco, then is that a large hint to America as well to not fall for the advertising bologna???
http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/24/04/41/5261382/3/960x540.jpg
Blum, Ronald. "MLB Players May Consider Discussing Chewing Tobacco Ban In 2016." Huffington Post [Minneapolis] 15 July 2014, Sports sec.: n. pag. Print.
9. The Finer Things In Life
This ad is made in the hopes of making the consumer believe that if you buy a pack of Newports, you will soon be the owner of a diamond necklace. HA! That might be the complete opposite, unless you're a Kardashian and have so much money that you don't know that to do with it. Cigarettes become a big chunk of change for the average smoker because of the rising prices of cigarettes. 1794 marked Alexander Hamilton declaring a federal excise tax on tobacco products. In 1862 there became a tax on all tobacco products within the state's discretion. This tax on the pack adds to the price and makes the cigarettes more expensive. Studies show that the higher the tax on cigarettes, the more people are discouraged to continue their habit of smoking. But the other side of that could be that people are wasting their money on cigarettes rather than spending their money wisely, and are not reducing the number of people smoking. This addiction can lead to major loss of money over time. A survey in New York State showed that the smokers with a lower income would spend 23.6% of their income on cigarettes, compared to a resident with a 2% higher income. On a national level, lower-income smokers spend an average of 14% on cigarettes. The government has done something right and made it a law that you can not buy tobacco products with your SNAP benefits along with items such as alcohol and household supplies. So, the next time an ad tries to fool you with showing a direct correlation with smoking that brand of cigarettes and owning a yacht, let's hope you're smart enough to call its bluff.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S8AoeAG7gXY/Uef3KzYstXI/AAAAAAAAFYE/OnsrO6gBebw/s1600/100_2349.JPG
"Cigarette Taxes in the United States." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 July 2014. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
"Taxation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 July 2014. Web. 05 Aug. 2014. .
10. Killing Man's Best Friend
This advertisement can pull on the heartstrings of all dog and pet owners out there. JUST LOOK HOW CUTE THAT POODLE IS! But the ad fails to tell you that those ladies are actually killing that poor pup by a little known thing called secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke is not something to be taken lightly. And even though it's true that a person may not be smoking a cigarette herself, all the people (and pets) around her are suffering from the smoke let out into the air by the smoker. Like it has been mentioned before, cigarettes contain multiple types of chemicals that harm the body when they are inhaled into the body. And just because you are not the person with the actual cigarette in your mouth, doesn't mean you're completely safe from harm. Even if you do not inhale the smoke from the lit end of a cigarette or the smoke from the smoker's mouth, you yourself are taking in those harsh chemicals, too. Some cancers and other diseases (that are related to smokers) have been linked to the secondhand smoke people experience. The more a person is around the smoke, the more chemicals they take in, and the more at risk their body becomes to serious damage and harm. A huge risk for kids that have family members that smoke around them is asthma that can complicate their breathing patterns. Many people feel smokers should be careful and wise about where they smoke because they can be harming innocent people. But any exposure to secondhand smoke is dangerous, there is no safe and acceptable amount of exposure of smoke a person can inhale. So next time you light one up next to your beloved golden retriever, just know that you're not the only one risking your health...
http://img.izismile.com/img/img2/20091125/bonus/7/cigarette_ads_10.jpg
"Secondhand Smoke." Secondhand Smoke. American Cancer Society, Inc., 11 Feb. 2014. Web. 03 Aug. 2014. .
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