Women have been a target of the cigarette industry marketing campaigns since the beginning of the 1920s. These campaigns became more and more aggressive in time and eventually became even more successful. The practice of marketing targeted exclusively at women continues today and has now expanded globally.

Before the 1920s

In 1911, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act divided the American Tobacco Trust into several different companies, and competition among the big producers drove innovations in both product and marketing, and eventually progressed to the idea of brands. These brands were modern and appealed to the modern sensibilities that were taking over the people of the United States at the time.

1920s–1940s

In the first part of the 20th Century the anti-tobacco movement was trying to prevent primarily at women and children. Smoking by women was seriously frowned upon by society as smoking was considered a dirty habit. And in the next years women started desiring equality.

The suffrage movement gave many women a sense of entitlement and freedom and the tobacco industry took advantage of the marketing opportunity. Tobacco companies began marketing cigarettes to appeal to women during the burgeoning women’s movement of the 1920s. They employed ads featuring prominent women, such as Amelia Earhart, and appealed to the vanity of women by promising slimming effects. Most of the ads also conveyed a carefree and confident image of women that would appeal to the modern woman of the 1920s.

The ads linking vanity and beauty were quite women specific and did exactly what they were supposed to do. Fear of weight gain remains a chief reason women continue to smoke. The ad campaigns successfully promoted cigarettes as a product possessing specific qualities including equality, autonomy, glamour, and beauty.

1950s–1970s

The late 1950s and early 1960s brought about a new onslaught of cigarette brands. Each new brand of cigarette introduced during this time advertised its unique benefits. The major new innovation in tobacco marketing was the filtered cigarette. Filters made cigarettes less harsh to smoke and offered the appearance of removing potentially harmful particles.

The 1950s also began a boom in advertising for tobacco companies. Ads featuring prominent movie and television stars became commonplace and tobacco companies also began sponsoring television shows, game shows, and other widespread media.

In 1965, it was reported that 33.9% of women were smoking. Virginia Slims came on the market in 1968, and used the catch phrase “You’ve come a long way baby.” This was the first cigarette to be marketed solely as a woman’s cigarette. The cigarettes were longer, slimmer, and overall more elegant and feminine. The ads depicted photos of glamorous women set against photos of women doing mundane tasks such as laundry or housework.

The 1970s ushered in the end of television advertising and the beginning of print ads carrying health warnings regarding the dangers of smoking. The 1970s also brought nearly annual reports from the Surgeon General’s office regarding the health consequences of smoking. In 1970, a reported 31.5% of women were smokers. Tobacco companies were barred from advertising on television, but smartly moved the market focus to sponsoring sporting and entertainment events. The 1970s ended with filtered cigarettes almost completely overtaking the market.

The 1980s and beyond

The 1980s began with the first Surgeon General’s Report on the Health Consequences of Smoking for Women. This report—published nearly 15 years after the original 1964 Surgeon General’s Report — came nearly sixty years after tobacco companies began marketing their products to women. The smoking rate of women in 1980 was at 29.3%.