Propaganda Assignment-Cigarettes

Cigarette Propaganda

Cigarette marketing was extremely prevalent in the early-late 1900s. Advertisements were placed all over the internet and television. Within these advertisements, there always seemed to be a perception that cigarettes were good for you and your health. There was never any data or evidence supporting this theory, so people just went along with it because advertisements were being thrown at their faces. In fact, in the 1940s tobacco companies hired doctors and dentists to promote their cigarettes in an effort to mask public concerns about smoking risks. In these advertisements’ tobacco companies were misleading people by showing them that physicians are smoking cigarettes and that cigarettes were perfectly fine for their health. If people see a doctor doing something, they will absolutely think that there is nothing wrong or unhealthy about it. Below are examples of propaganda used for doctors and dentists:

Moving on to the 1950s and 1960s, tobacco companies used celebrities to promote their cigarettes. Tobacco companies bought and sponsored their own TV programs and paid A-list celebrities to make an appearance in their ad campaigns. Professional athletes were also used to endorse cigarette products. People idolize celebrities and when they see them doing something such as smoking, people will want to mimic them. Below are examples of a celebrity and some of baseball’s best stars such as Joe DiMaggio being used as cigarette propaganda:

On April 1, 1970, President Richard Nixon placed a ban on cigarette advertisements on television and the radio. This caused tobacco companies to shift to promoting cigarette advertisements through print. In the 1990s and 2000s, tobacco companies started targeting the youth, sports and event marketing, and video games. A cartoon character such as Joe Camel was created to attract the interest of kids. This type of propaganda has been banned but is still prevalent with colorful cigarette packaging. An interesting fact is that tobacco companies place cigarettes and their advertisements directly at the eye level of children. In sports such as NASCAR, a tobacco company called RJ Reynolds sponsored the Winston Cup for 30 years. RJ Reynolds also sponsored “Girls’ Night Out” events and allowed women to get free cigarettes, jewelry, and massages. In video games people are left uninformed as 42% of them contain images of tobacco, but only 8% contained warnings. Below are examples of tobacco companies targeting youth, sports and event marketing, and video games:

Today, smoking advertisements are no longer on television. However, it is not uncommon to see an advertisement of someone who smoked throughout their life and showing all the negative effects that it brought into their life. For example, tooth loss, cancer, lung issues, etc. These advertisements are much different than the ones before because they drive people away from smoking by showing bad side effects, rather than trying to reel people in and attract them to cigarettes. Cigarette advertising has changed significantly over time, finally putting people first and looking out for their health.

Sources

https://stopswithme.com/history-tobacco-marketing-scary-story/