The Tobacco Industry

1
The Tobacco Industry Women

• Women are Actively Targeted by Aggressive
  Advertising Campaigns

2
How It All Began

• When smoking first came into vogue, it was
  considered a man's activity, and unfeminine.
  Therefore it became a vehicle for women's
  rebellion and for asserting a new, more
  independent, self-image. Tobacco companies
  capitalized on this. It is said that Edward
  Bernays, a master of public relations who was
  hired by the tobacco industry, employed women to
  dress like feminists and march in the Easter
  parade of 1929 in New York City. These women were
  also paid to smoke and, when they attracted the
  attention of the press, to refer to their
  cigarettes as "torches of freedom." This was the
  beginning of an association between women smokers
  and freedom or liberation that has been
  cultivated and promoted by the tobacco industry.
• Source Jean Kilbourne and Rick Pollay, Pack of
  Lies, 1992.

3

• This was the first bold effort of the tobacco
  industry to recruit female smokers.
• Although smoking remained a mans activity for
  the first half of the 20th Century, smoking among
  women started to gain social acceptability around
  World War II.

Easter Parade, 1929
4

• During WWII, when many men were away fighting,
  cigarette companies began to target women more
  directly, appealing to the desire for
  independence, glamour and slimness.
• As a result, smoking rates among women increased
  and, consequently, smoking among women started to
  gain social acceptability.

5
What Do Women Want?

• Tobacco companies have conducted extensive market
  research on the attitudes of women and girls to
  better understand how to target their products
  and their advertising.
• By focusing their research on how females view
  themselves, their aspirations and the social
  pressures they face, the cigarette companies have
  developed some of the most aggressive and
  sophisticated marketing campaigns in history.

6
Just For You!

• In the 1970s, womens cigarette brands, such as
  Matinee, Virginia Slims, and Misty started to
  emerge.
• Why is Virginia Slims attractive to women?

7
Unfortunate Success

• In the US, the number of teenage girls who smoked
  more than doubled in the 6 years following the
  launch of Virginia Slims.
• Thirty years later, these cigarette brands
  designed specifically for women are commonplace.

8

• In Canada, 26 of females aged 15-19 use tobacco
  industry products.
• That is 6 more than males.
• A 2001 report on women and smoking identified
  that nearly all women who smoke started as
  teenagers and that 30 of female high school
  smokers continue to smoke into adulthood.

9
Why Do Women Smoke?

• Women smoke for many of the same reasons men do
• because they are addicted
• to enhance social acceptability
• to improve self-esteem, or to relieve stress.

10
Weight Control

• But many more women than men use smoking as a
  form of weight control.
• This is particularly true of teenage girls.
• Many are afraid they will gain weight if they
  quit smoking.

11
If I ran the world, calories wouldnt count

• The tobacco companies exploit this insecurity in
  their advertising.
• What insecurity does this ad exploit?

12
Fashion and sponsorship

• Cigarette brands sponsor fashion events to make
  an association between slimness, glamour, and
  their cigarettes.

13
Matinee Fashion Foundation

• Each year, The Matinee Fashion Foundation
  organizes regional events across Canada.
• Matinee is a cigarette brand owned by Imperial
  Tobacco.

14

• Dont fall for the tobacco industrys devious
  marketing tactics!