39 Messages You Will Not See Again : Vintage Cigarette Ads To Make You Cringe
Stark health warnings, plain packaging and no advertising may the order of the day now, but it wasn’t always so for the tobacco industry.
Here’s a quick glimpse at some of the output of the Mad Men of yesteryear. It’s all here – exploiting weight anxieties, pushing aspirational lifestyles, cute babies, men in white coats, gratuitous cleavage shots and Santa.
Selling 40 for 10p dates this as much as the styling
Typical glamour shot of the day but its good to be assured that her throat’s safe – for now.
Is she advertising Pears soap or smoking?
Famous but unnamed authority confirms harsh irritants have been expelled. Eh?
They nailed the brief here!
Smoking will help you keep slender. Want to be size 0 – smoke three packs a day!
Move along, nothing to see here
A very understated ad that links smoking to women’s suffrage
Come fly with me
In the era of Amy Johnson and Amelia Earhart, there was seemingly nothing women couldn’t achieve – without a carton of smokes
Awwwhhh
Can’t believe that this ad actually ran!!
Stick a cute baby in the picture
But what’s the messaging here!?!
Family Guy
Your life is incomplete without a nuclear family and a carton of smokes!
Celebrity Endorsement
This is a double whammy – cigarettes endorsed by a movie star and with implied medical support
Guess this explains the voice?
Another big star endorsement for those scientific tests!
Superfresh
A fresh faced nurse – hey, now we gotta take her seriously – selling us ‘fresh’ cigarettes
Lazy day at the office
Got a long weekend planned. Let’s just put up a picture of a pretty girl.
Another lazy day at the office
Yup, another POETS day. Get the pretty pics out and keep pumping that ‘keen, young’ line
Dressed for the occasion?
Enuff said
Everyone loves Granny
OK, we’ve used babies but anyone want to bet that I can use a granny to pitch strong smokes?
Did he say inhale?
A man of action, a woman writhing on the floor in a cocktail dress and statistics!
Men in white coats
The 30 day test is also fun and enlightening for non-doctors too folks!
Anything Camel can do….
The folks at Lucky Strike strike back with their own man in a white coat, glasses and statistics
Me too
OK, Camel and Lucky Strike have the doctors but Viceroy thought outside the box and went for a dentist
Men in white coats? Pah, too lame
Keep your doctors and dentists because we have a firefighter and a matron and they want us to know that smoking aids digestion!
Smoking Bride
Great artwork but why??
Gee, thanks. I wanted a toaster
Brides and smoking? Is there a link?
Subtlety Over
Aha, link now spelt out for us – smoking calms you when you’re tensed. That’s that then.
Honeymooners pack light
Packed with pleasure? Uuffff
Nice nails
Well, the tension of the wedding is over and now I just have these nicotine stains to scrub
A Rockwell moment
Smoking is a social thing but please someone open a window, there’s four of us beautiful people smoking in here!!!
This is the moment?
Ah, yes, smoking our brand will make you socially successful, silly!
Same old, same old
Mr Telephone Man
Light up a Kent as you think of dynamic ways to express what you feel. Geez
Do not try this at home
I tried it once and got a slap!
Oh Dear
An ad aimed at women which is just as sexist as the “in yer face” one above
She knows what she likes at least
What did he say????
Was this a tongue-in-cheek ad I wonder?
Just because they can
Can’t think of any other reason for showing so much cleavage.
Back to white coats again
No vital statistics here, just a gratuitous cleavage shot
Last long legs of the genre
A throwback to the ads of the 40s and 50s. By the time this campaign ended, the writing really was on the wall.
Santa smokes???
WTH??
Santa skives and smokes?
Was this in “The Night Before Christmas”?
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