The Cigarette

The Safe Cigarette: Visual strategies of reassurance in American advertisements for cigarettes, 1945-1964.

Number: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Practice-Based Ph.D. Jackie Batey www.thesafecigarette.blogspot.com

The Safe Cigarette

The Safe Cigarette: Visual strategies of reassurance in American advertisements for cigarettes, 1945-1964.

Volume Number: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Practice-Based Ph.D. Jackie Batey www.thesafecigarette.blogspot.com

The Safe Cigarette

One: The Safe Cigarette

Two: The Cigarette

Three: The Need to Reassure

Four: Personification: Who Should We Trust ?

Five: Nature as Reassurance - The Menthol Cigarette

Six: Technology as Reassurance - The Filter-Tip

Seven: Conclusion

Eight: Glossary, References and Appendices

2

Two: Contents

Advertising the Cigarette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:01

A Closer Look at One Camel Advertisement from 1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:01

What Exactly is a Cigarette ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:06

Elements of a Cigarette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:07

The American Tobacco Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:08

How to Smoke a Cigarette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:08

How is a Cigarette Consumed ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:09

Manuals of Smoking - the Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:10

Manuals of Smoking - in the Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:11

Who is the Smoker? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:11

Comparison with a Similar Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:13

Cigarettes and Chewing Gum, Why Partake ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:14

An Adult Pacifier ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:15

Two Products Fight Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:15

Endnotes to Fascicle Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:17

n Fig 2:01 Camel Advertisement, SEP, July 1950

Two: The Cigarette

Advertising the Cigarette

This section will look at the nature of the cigarette itself, that small cheap manufactured leisure item that

has aroused such great passion - even hatred.

How are we taught to smoke?

What other product shares similar characteristics in visual presentation and marketing

philosophy?

What are the effects on the body of its consumption?

What physical and psychological rewards are there for the consumer?

I want to begin my analysis with a single image that contains within it a representative combination of

visual strategies associated with the early years of this post-war period of advertising cigarettes in

America.

A closer look at one Camel advertisement from 1950

Fig 2:01 shows an advertisement for Camel cigarettes that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in July

1950. It is a full page advertisement but does not bleed off the page, having a white border of about

15mm. This was the most popular layout during this period, with full bleed advertisements becoming

more usual towards the end of the decade. This advertisement is typical of the 1950’s in that it is

constructed of many separate elements that are fitted together, with various degrees of visual

coherence, to form a whole. Each element addresses a particular issue or feature of the product.

This particular advertisement consists of 5 main elements;

1 the celebrity endorsement of Vaughn Monroe, ‘radio and recording star’;

2 the vignette of the pack shot with additional product resting on an ashtray;

3 the text report by throat specialists about throat irritation;

4 the insert of a T-Zone character with an explanation of a 30-day mildness test;

5 a further 3 endorsements by members of the general public, two of whom refer to the use

of their voices in their jobs.

Compared to the design of advertisements today this image seems crowded with contending areas of

information, fractured elements with too many items for the eye to focus upon. The main image of the

celebrity recording star is prominent in the top half of the layout but attention is distracted almost

immediately with a large white text quotation and speech bubble, which in turn is overlapped by a

2:01

n Fig 2:02 Detail of the Celebrity Endorsement, Camel Advertisement, SEP, July 1950

vignette of the pack. The speed at which the eye has to move around the page in order to take in all the

information in the first few seconds of looking leaves the viewer somewhat breathless and dizzy.

There is something urgent, even innocent, about such an enthusiasm to communicate on as many

levels as possible within the one image. There is a desperation combined with a slightly hysterical

eagerness. It is this very overloading of information and hysteria that has influenced my own Artist’s

Books and Multiples. There is the constant feeling that the seller of the product is trying every tactic or

approach at once in order to persuade the consumer to purchase the product. The notion of reassuring

once, and then reassuring again in layers can create exactly the opposite effect to that intended, building

up suspicion and resistance within the viewer. Visual satire on this aspect of advertising has a rich

tradition in American culture, from the New Yorker cartoons of the period (as seen in this work) through

to Matt Groening’s The Simpsons, several episodes of which feature Laramie cigarettes1. This visual

bombardment feels equivalent to the kind of argument where the losing side keeps saying “...and

another thing.”

Now I will look at in detail at the individual elements within this advertisement:

1 The celebrity endorsement of Vaughn Monroe ‘radio and recording star’.

This section, fig 2:02, is given the top half of the layout, the most prominent position within the page.2

The figure of Vaughn Monroe is placed on the left. He is wearing a smart evening jacket with bow tie and

is loosely holding a lit cigarette in his right hand, but no smoke is coming from the product. He is holding

his hand upright just below his bow tie and he is looking directly at the viewer whilst smiling and holding

a microphone in his left hand.

He appears as if he is just about to speak to us, or lean over and sing into his microphone. He is not

interacting with his cigarette other than holding it. It appears more as a prop than an item to be

consumed.3

The backdrop appears to be a red velvet curtain. Vaughn seems to be on a stage about to perform

himself. To the right of the image, partially covered by the speech bubble, is an amorphous grey shape

that remains unidentified. We are not sure what it is. Perhaps it is a coat over a chair or piece of scenery

that is out of focal range. This is the kind of incongruous item that would have been removed on the

computer if the image were to be used today. It is this element of mystery that I enjoy exploring in my

own work, everything on the page seems so controlled and ordered and yet a strange shape lurks in the

corner of the image, something so unexplained hiding in a page full of explanations. in later

advertisements and in common practice after 1960, the cigarette was not presented with such

disengaged presence in the advertisements. The product was integrated within the hand, within the

gesture, within the scenario. The detachment of the elements within the page gives the advertisement

2:02

an unconscious surrealism; the disconnected elements appear together but do not sit comfortably next

to each other. The blanket covering a mysterious object in the background is reminiscent of the work of

Magritte and the self-conscious pose of Vaughn Monroe could be a still from a David Lynch film. It is a

fine line that if the celebrity is too zestful in his/her consumption of the product his/her attitude might

appear unsightly but if the attitude is too cool, the product may be diminished.

A miscalculation in expression could have the effect of diminishing the star’s status by making him

appear insincere.

There are two tones of voice in the copy of this top section: Quotes attributed to Vaughn and an

anonymous voice speaking to the viewer as advocate of the product;

“MY VOICE IS MY LIVING”...

This statement is typographically represented in speech marks to show that Vaughn has commented on

the product. This is followed by the second voice adding more detail in case we, the viewer, are not

familiar with the career of Vaughn Monroe;

says Vaughn MonroeRADIO AND RECORDING STAR

This is then followed by;

...so it’s only

common sense that

I smoke the cigarette that

agrees with my throat

- CAMEL!

This text appears in a white speech bubble with a grey outline pointing directly from Vaughn’s mouth. It

seems he is almost shouting this comment by the addition of capitals and an exclamation mark,

something at odds with the image. In the image he is designed to be relaxed and smiling, not exhorting

the delights of the product. This gives the appearance of the speech bubble being generated by some

other character - almost someone behind the curtain. This contrast of text and image has a comic effect,

with the words looking as if they had been pasted into his mouth by someone else.

On a pale blue banner beneath the image this second tone of voice tells us even more about the

featured celebrity and why he is appropriate to the consumption of the product. “His voice is in

demand”, “Recording hit tunes that sell in the millions of copies.”, “...the singingest band leader in the

U.S.A.” The viewer is expected to extrapolate from the image and information that some cigarette

brands are bad for your voice and throat but that Camel is not.

If someone who relies upon his voice for his celebrity status is prepared to go on record saying that

Camels are mild and do not affect your voice, then the viewer who does not rely on their voice as a

2:03

career should trust in Vaughn Monroe. It is interesting that to put the words into the Vaughn’s mouth

the quotation marks were not considered enough and another graphic device, that of the speech bubble,

was also added. Winston Cigarette advertisements of the late ’fifties went one step further with the

speech bubble technique by adding graphics of musical notes at the beginning of the text to suggest the

celebrity was sweetly singing the endorsement.

2 The vignette of the pack shot with additional product resting on an ashtray.

Nearly every advertisement for cigarettes contains a pack shot. The abundance of brands from each

tobacco company and the constant introduction of new brands and withdrawal of unsuccessful ones

meant that packet recognition was of vital importance. The consumer should be able to point to the

packet in the tobacconist’s shop and ask for the product by name, or they might be tempted by cheaper

alternative brands at the point of sale. The pack itself is, as a statement of the presence of the brand,

and becomes a symbol of how the consumers see themselves when opened up in public. Cigarettes

themselves, although branded, are hard to distinguish visually from one another when away from their

pack. Showing the pack at the same angle became the only enduring image within the changing

juxtapositions of celebrities faces and tag lines.

The packet shown here, fig 2:03, has been opened and the crisp new cigarettes are revealed in a

staggered arch reminiscent of a box of new wax crayons. Nothing has been used or crumpled, the

delicate foil is undamaged and the paper packet still square and neat. This packet has not been carried

about in someone’s pocket. It is fresh and new, direct from the shop, and has been carried with care like

a precious object. The ashtray has no ash in it as yet and the smoke from the cigarette at rest is thin and

wispy. This is a cigarette that would not even smell. It is neat and clean.

3 The text report by throat specialists about throat irritation.

This strategy of reassurance using the opinions and appearance of doctors and throat specialists became

a major focus for Camel until the appearance of medical specialists was strongly discouraged by the

American Government, and in the U.K., after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare’s,

“Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health

Service”, (Publication No.1103, Washington, 1964).

The comments about throat irritation inevitably lead the consumer to ask the question “does

smoking damage your throat?” fig 2:04. Camel seems to think it does, but that its brand is safe and has

“Not one recorded case of throat irritation”. During this period if the consumer looked to other brands

the similar throat reassurances were also incorporated. Between 1950-53 Pall Mall seemed to think that

throat irritation was a concern of the consumer by running advertisements warning of ‘throat scratch’.

2:04

n Fig 2:03 Detail of the Pack Shot, Camel Advertisement, SEP, July 1950

n Fig 2:04 Detail of the Medical Endorsement, Camel Advertisement, SEP, July 1950

n Fig 2:05 Detail of the T-Zone Character, Camel Advertisement, SEP, July 1950

Claims for “mildness” are common during this period and up till the advent of the Filter-Tip and the

addition of menthol. (See Fascicles Five and Six).

“I [turned on the TV and...] smoked a long, cool, tightly packed cigarette. It was kind to my throat.

It was made of fine tobacco. I forgot to notice what brand it was.”

Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-Bye, Penguin Books, 1998 [1953] p.86

The “NOTED THROAT SPECIALISTS” are never specifically identified. We are given statistics without a

source. In this example a total of “2,470 weekly examinations of the throats of hundreds of men and

women who smoked Camels - and Camels only - for 30 consecutive days.” This is a lot of trouble to take

if there was no actual cause for concern. Imagine the anxiety a slogan concerning vision problems for

mobile phone users could cause if used today. “2,470 weekly examinations of the vision of hundreds of

children who used - Nokia - and only Nokia for 30 consecutive days”. Throat specialists, however,

featured more and more prominently in the advertisements identified by their stethoscopes and white

coats. (See Fascicle Four).

4 The insert of a T-Zone character with an explanation of a 30-day mildness test.

The T-Zone insert appears at the bottom right of the page, almost the last place to look at as the eye

finally comes to rest, fig 2:05. The sepia image of the woman has a large sans serif ‘T’ over her face. This

feature is known as the T-Zone.

The T-Zone (applied to male and female faces) appeared on the advertisements from 1945 until

1953. The ‘T’ was supposedly highlighting all the areas vulnerable to cigarette smoking but protected by

consumption of the Camel brand.4

The 30-day test is suggested, Smoking Camels for thirty days in order

to experience the mildness. In 1922 Dr.John B.Watson, employed by J.Walter Thompson Co., determined

by clinical tests that smokers have little or no ability to distinguish one cigarette from another by its

taste.5

The 30-Day Mildness Test therefore had little or no other use than making the consumer buy and smoke

Camels for a month, hopefully with the outcome that they switched brands.

The T-Zone over the face was a new concept in 1950 and the idea had to be spelt out to the

consumer “(T for throat - T for Taste)”. MILDNESS is emphasised by being capitalised and underlined in

colour. The T-Zone woman is holding the cigarette in the same way as Vaughn Monroe, she is smiling and

the cigarette is lit and gripped loosely in a relaxed hand gesture. Again she is not actually smoking the

product. It is still clearly held at a distance. She also looks directly at the viewer as if she is the main voice

for the exposition of the 30-Day test. (For a fuller account of the T-Zone character see Fascicle Four).

2:05

5 Three endorsements by members of the general public.

Fig 2:06 isolates the smallest and least important element on the layout of the page. Three images of the

head and shoulders of two men and one woman in sepia, look directly at the viewer and smile. Each is

holding a lit cigarette in a relaxed grip near the mouth. Again the product is not being actively consumed.

If the viewer was totally unfamiliar with the function of cigarettes, this advertisement would seem to

imply that cigarettes are items that are lit and then held in one hand near your chin to make you smile

and feel happy.

The three people are, from left to right, a voice coach, a housewife and a ship-to-shore radio

dispatcher. The voice coach echoes the comments by Vaughn by saying, “My career asks a lot from my

throat”. The ship-to-shore radio dispatcher also reinforces this idea with “On my job, cigarette mildness

is important.” The housewife, however, reassures the viewer that has no particular need to worry about

irritated throats. She states, “I don’t use my voice for a living, but throat irritation doesn’t go with me

either.”

So the ‘ordinary’ person would do well to avoid any future problems of throat irritation by

changing to Camels. This advertisement is not particularly successful in terms of promoting the product

with an overload of jumbled information. There were exceptions to this layout of overload. Old Gold

(April 1949) fig 2:07 has a full-bleed advertisement with a short tag line and minimal copy. The text is

very short in comparison to the Camel advertisement, Old Gold even make a pun out of the lack of

hyperbole in their advertisement, “No double talk - Old Gold’s single aim is Smoking Pleasure”. The

implication that other manufacturers were doing so was a strategy that the brand employed for many

years (See Fascicle Four). It is interesting that to appear different, Old Gold used limited text with a single

image, (always a pun or play on words) the majority of which bleeds off the page. This layout technique

faded out in favour of full bleed main images with even less text enthusing across the image.

What Exactly is a Cigarette ?

A cigarette is a short, tightly rolled cylinder of processed tobacco leaves wrapped in thin porous paper.

The plant Nicotiana Tabacum is cultivated as the chief source of commercial tobacco. Its leaves are dried

and prepared for snuff, chewing and smoking. Treatments and flavourings included licorice, rum and

menthol.6

Cigarettes can be bought in high street shops, mail-order, internet and they are also available

in automatic vending machines, see figs 2:08 to 2:117

2:06

n Fig 2:06 Detail of the additional endorsements, Camel Advertisement, SEP, July 1950

n Fig 2:07 Old Gold Advertisement, LOOK, April 1949

n Fig 2:08-12 Elements of a Cigarette, diagrams by the author 2001

Fig 2:08 Regular Cigarette

Shredded tobacco encased in porous paper

Fig 2:11 Mentholated Cigarette

Shredded flavoured tobacco encased in porous paper.

Menthol can also be added via an acetate flavour-thread filter

Fig 2:09 King Size CigaretteShredded tobacco encased in porous paper

Fig 2:10 Filter-Tip CigaretteShredded tobacco encased in porous paper with filter at one end(see appendix 6.1)

Fig 2:12 Cigarette Butt

Cigarettes can have tips or filters of various materials such as cork, ivory, charcoal and acetate. Tips

are intended to aid the process of smoking by stopping small loose smouldering slips of tobacco from

burning the mouth and are intended to prevent harmful chemicals produced from the smoke of the

smouldering tobacco being inhaled into the throat and lungs.

Cigarettes are available in various sizes such as ‘regular’ with a longer version known as ‘King -Size’.

They are sold in packets of varying quantities such as tens, twenties and in multiple-packet cartons.

There are varieties that are mass-produced but the market also includes roll-your-own brands or even

make-your-own cigarettes where the constituent elements are purchased separately by the consumer

and then assembled by them.

Elements of a Cigarette

“Your American concoctions are a sin against nicotine, Bill. I always thought the Spaniards smoked the worst cigarettes in

the world; but I had to come here to find out that tobacco could be toasted, boiled, fried, impregnated with menthol,

ground into a loose powder, enclosed in a tube of blotting-paper, and still unloaded on an unsuspecting public.”

Leslie Charteris, The Saint in New York, Pan Books, London, 1950 [1935], p.59.

The four main varieties of cigarette offered by the tobacco industry are as follows;

Regular The standard sized cigarette, the Industrial ‘norm’, is approximately 85mm

in length and 8mm in diameter. Indicative brand leader - Camel (fig 2:08).

King-SizeA cigarette that is longer than the ‘regular’ cigarette. The length of the

King-Size supposedly enables the smoke to be filtered by the tobacco inside the

cigarette more effectively than the ‘regular’. Approximately 98mm in length with

a diameter of 8mm. Indicative brand leader - Pall Mall (fig 2:09).

Filter-Tip An attachment at the end of the cigarette sits between the mouth and the tobacco

intended to sift-out harmful chemicals from the tobacco smoke prior

to inhalation. Filters are made as an integral part of the cigarette. Materials used

range from cotton fibres and charcoal to asbestos and acetate. Filter-tips are

made in regular length and King-Size. Indicative brand leader - Winston (fig 2:10).

Mentholated The tip of the cigarette has a thin flavour thread running through its centre. The

thread is flavoured with menthol - a green crystalline plant extract with a strong

mint flavour. Menthol is known as a natural antiseptic that produces a numbing

sensation. Indicative brand leader - Salem (fig 2:11).

I will refer mainly to these four varieties, with particular emphasis on the menthol cigarette in Fascicle

Five and the Filter-Tipped cigarette in Fascicle Six.

2:07

The American Tobacco Companies

The Brand Names Foundation sought to encourage branding and to infuse familiar brand names with

ideas of quality. But there were so many brands available, with newer ones appearing regularly, each

with contending qualities. The main brands however are predominantly owned by a few major Tobacco

Companies. The Tobacco Companies themselves are mostly made up of smaller companies that had

joined together for a stronger market position. (See Appendix 1:1) I have chosen for study, Philip Morris,

R J Reynolds, Liggett & Myers, P. Lorillard, American Tobacco, Brown & Williamson and BAT for

particular study here as they hold the main share in the tobacco market.8

Whereas comparative items of mass consumption have a demonstrative purpose - the ballpoint

pen, the toothbrush, a comb - the cigarette is unusual in that it is superfluous to human requirements

with no nutritional value. Whereas beverages are consumed in ways perfectly understandable from

previous practice, how do we learn to acquire and smoke cigarettes? Can you imagine making a mistake

opening and drinking a can of beer?

How to Smoke a Cigarette

See Gatefold 2. Smoking a Cigarette the procedures of smoking.

Smoking cigarettes is such a familiar activity that the act of learning the process can easily be taken for

granted. The method of inhaling the tobacco smoke through the mouth is not the only technique of

ingesting Tobacco. Tobacco smoke was inhaled through a forked tube placed up the nostrils by certain

smokers in early sixteenth century accounts. This method was not universal. It would have been difficult

to visualise in the advertisements, although Vicks Medi-Mist have made a visual feature of inhaling

vapour in ways bordering on the ecstatic. In fig 2:13 the family shown inhaling Vicks Medi-Mist (1955)

do not appear to be actually inhaling the product; their faces are smiling and at rest. Altering the

illustration so that one eye was squinting and one side of the face contorted, with a finger holding the

free nostril closed during a sharp intake of breath would have indicated use of the product, but would

not provide an appealing visual strategy. Cigarettes were in comparison simple to ignite, to re-ignite, to

extinguish when necessary. Pipe smoking is a complex process more akin to tending a bonfire and

involving elaborate apparel.9

There are many ways to hold a cigarette; yet none of them are specified in a dedicated manual.

Usually we look and imitate, using peers as role models. Visual exemplars were offered in films and on

television, and were reinforced in the frozen moment of the advertisement on the magazine page. The

1955 advertisement for Philip Morris cigarettes fig 2:14 shows a young couple learning to smoke. The

2:08

n Fig 2:13 Detail, Vicks Medi-Mist advertisement, SEP, December 1955

n Fig 2:14 Philip Morris advertisement, SEP, June 1955

brand is promoted as especially mild for beginners’ “young tastes” and features characters who are both

in their teens.

How is a Cigarette Consumed ?

[On the phone to Sir Walter Raleigh] “You can chew it or put it in a pipe, or you can shred it and put it on a piece of paper and roll

it up and - don’t tell me, Walt, don’t tell me - you stick it in your ear, right, Walt?...Oh, between your lips? Then what do you do to

it, Walt?...You set fire to it, Walt? Then what do you do, Walt?...You inhale the smoke? You know, Walt, it seems offhand that you

could stand in front of your fireplace and have the same thing going for you...” Bob Newhart, “The Introduction of Tobacco to

Civilisation” (comic monologue), Something Like This: Anthology, Audio CD, Warner Bros,, 2001 [1960].

The cigarettes are neatly stacked within their packaging. One is extracted and carried to the lips where

the correct end is held in the mouth, while the other end is ignited, a process that is helped by the

addition of saltpetre to the paper. The smoke from the smouldering tobacco is inhaled through the

length of the cigarette into the lungs, then exhaled through the nose or mouth while the cigarette

continues to burn slowly. The act of smoking a cigarette can take up to about 15 minutes. Consumers

smoke at different rates, a fact that has made research into the volume of smoke entering the throat and

lungs difficult to calculate. The cigarette is generally held in the hand not the lips while at rest.

The act of smoking is meant to appear relaxed and easy and yet nowhere is this complex routine

explained for the benefit of novice consumers. So how does the consumer develop the appropriate

techniques?

Manuals of Smoking - the Advertisements

“She picked a cigarette out of a box, tossed it in the air, caught it between her lips effortlessly and lit it with a match that

came out of nowhere.” Raymond Chandler, “The Little Sister”, The Lady in The lake and Other Novels, Penguin Books,

London, 2001 [1949], p. 447.

Smoking, whether in film or advertisements, must always appear a natural activity for the consumer, not

an acquired skill needing years of practice. Explicit, available instructions on ‘how to smoke’ would have

clearly diminished the mystique of smoking. During the ’fifties visual indicators were to be found

primarily in the magazine or newspaper advertisement, on lorries and billboards, at the point of sale and

in films and on television. This accumulation of carefully imagined instruction was available to initiate

and reinforce the act of smoking alone or smoking shared.

From advertisements featuring the smoker alone, we can communicate details of the journey of

cigarette from pack to mouth. Ignition and the location often provide a reason for smoking alone - a

2:09

reward at the end of a hard day; an encouragement of thought during taxing mental work; a way to

unwind and alleviate stress; an aid to one’s digestion or even an aid to diet. Smoking in company is

pictured, showing all environments suitable for consuming the product, whether outdoors or indoors,

with or without food, daytime or night time, at work or leisure, with friends or partners, in summer or

winter.

The cigarette advertisement, whether on billboard or magazine, visually reinforced the techniques,

the hand gestures, the ignition procedures, as well as suggesting what brand to favour. The copy

confirmed the visuals and offered explanations as to why the consumer should smoke. The

advertisement in fact provided that which had never existed - the manual of smoking.

In 1947 Camel ran the “Experience is the best teacher” campaign, but perhaps the most obvious

advertisement as manual appeared for Lucky Strike (1954) fig 2:15. Amy Vanderbilt, billed as “America’s

foremost authority on etiquette”, is featured talking about her new etiquette book and makes some

comments under the headline, “The Etiquette of Smoking”. Mrs.Vanderbilt goes on to insist how a

smoker should behave in polite society, (see copy Fig 2:15).

The etiquette of smoking and procedures, once established, can be observed and passed on to

others even when the original reasons for the actions become unnecessary, as noticed by John Banville

in his novel “The Untouchable” (1998).

“I toyed with my cigarette case - what would I do without my props? - and selected another cigarette and tapped it on the

lid. No one taps cigarettes like that any more; why did we do it anyway?” John Banville, The Untouchable, Picador,

London, 1997, p. 374.

Modern machine-made cigarettes no longer require tapping to remove the excess loose tobacco but the

action can still be seen.

Manuals of Smoking - in the Movies

The depiction of smoking in the movies has a long tradition, Sight and Sound, has produced a ‘smoking

in film’ chronology.10

Although the act of smoking featured regularly in movies before 1945, a luxuriance

of smoke often added to the mystery of the femme fatale e.g. G.W.Pabst’s Pandora’s Box (1928),

providing the clearest set of instructions for the person wanting to smoke. In the post-war period

smoking was not just associated with an élite high chic, camp or an indication of the ‘baddie’, it was

considered a regular activity to be enjoyed during the average day. Smoking as gesture could indicate the

pace of life and experience. The Sweet Smell of Success (1957) depicted the cigarette as an index of

power and status. The Belles of St.Trinians (1954) comedy shows school girls smoking as a display of

2:10

n Fig 2:15 Lucky Strike advertisement, SEP, February 1954

youthful licence. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) shows how to smoke using a chi-chi cigarette holder. In

the Film Noir genre smoking could add a wealth of expressive effects from sultry seduction and lip curling

contempt to presumed sexual availability, e.g. Gilda (1946). When the femme fatale is told she smokes

too much, her reply is, “Only frustrated people smoke too much.”

However it was in advertisements designed by the advertising industry, visualised by the designer,

photographer and illustrator, displayed every week in the mass circulation magazines that American

smokers and potential smokers of cigarettes could best absorb the skills of consumption in the still

image. These magazines lay around homes, offices and gathering places with a range of entertaining or

educative features for all ages. They were replaced by the next issue on a regular basis and did not

require regular visits to the cinema or drive-in. They are worthy of the closest scrutiny.

Who is the Smoker?It is in the nature of smoking that all sectors of society (over 16) are represented in this imagery. The

broad appeal of smoking was, by some, seen as another indication of mass degeneration of society.

“A modern habit which embraces princes and paupers, statesman and scavengers, Doctors of Divinity and chimney

sweeps, clergymen and blacklegs...this motley mass of present-day humanity.” Frank Ballard, The Smoking Craze,

S.W.Partridge & Co., London, 1901, p.9.

But who is chosen to consume the product, to represent the product? Who is chosen to smoke the

cigarette?

I want here to categorise smokers shown in the advertisements of the period after 1945.

• No smoker shown - Here the advertisement features only an image of the pack. This is unusual,

The pack is commonly shown as a vignette within a larger scenario to emphasise a new feature

or to raise consumer awareness of the packaging.

• The single female smoker - Is most often under 25 and attractive. Young, single women are

usually featured in inside environments; e.g. working for a boss, working in a home studio,

doing housework, caring for their children. When outside environments are used as settings,

they mainly consist of areas near the home; e.g. driveways, balconies, swimming pools,

gardens. Countryside locations (much less frequently used) consist of strolls in the park and

relaxing whilst reading a book. These images are all set during the daylight hours. Images set

in the evening invariably suggest that the woman is accompanied. They include glamorous

2:11

events such as parties, balls, visiting the opera. It is implicit that single woman will not be

alone for long without either a husband or admirer. The vignetted smiling female face is also

placed within collages that display the pack and other separate elements such as health

charts, endorsements or spot graphics.

• The single male smoker - Is most often represented as over 40 and mature. Inside locations

are mainly orientated towards work; e.g. offices; home studios. Work settings are shown both

in daylight and evening, as if at the end of a long day. Outside work is also frequently depicted

including cowboys, farmers, gardeners, emergency services, police, train drivers and the

armed forces. Recreational activities are represented although, for men, they are still

orientated more toward work with sporting professionals endorsing brands; e.g walking, rock

climbing, swimming, baseball, golf, American football, tennis, fishing.

• The (male and female) couple - Usually engaged or married. The couple are both usually under

30 years of age. Inside activities include D.I.Y, resting after dinner, washing-up, going bowling,

attending parties, going to the opera. Outside activities are mostly recreational, but not in a

competitive or professional way. Unlike the single male smoker, couples are seen as having

fun; e.g. picnics, sports, driving, boating, sitting on the beach, country walks, shopping, eating

out.

• The (buddies) couple - Not as common as (male and female) couples but older men are shown

teaching younger men and occasionally women to smoke, female friends go shopping, fathers

are shown relaxing in the company of their daughters.

• Groups and crowds - This is not that frequent and tends to be used as a background to a more

prominent element in the layout, such as a pack shot or an inset endorsement. The venues

include sporting events, parties, barbecues, swimming pools, ice rinks, holidays, beach

events and record-breaking attempts.

Cigarettes are represented as a product that could be consumed any time of the day or night, in company

or on your own. Cigarettes could be smoked occasionally or in vast numbers. The visual strategy of the

Tobacco Companies was to show that the product could be consumed almost anywhere by anyone at

any time. With a scenario imagined for any aspect of the American day, a cigarette was offered as the

catalyst to action, the lubrication for tension and the agent of social cohesion. Here was a product which,

by general agreement within the Tobacco Industry, was physically addictive being promoted as a

perfectly normal part of the daily routine.11

The most popular visual strategy is the depiction of young

couples in their 20’s and 30’s.

2:12

Rarely shown are lone female smokers over the age of forty or retired couples. With the volume of

young couple smoking in the advertisements it is perhaps ironic that none of them seem to have made

it into their golden years.

It should be noted that the vast majority of featured individuals are white. Native Americans only

feature as a metaphor for health (medicine men) or tradition (cigar store indian) but never as members

of the community. It must be stressed, however, that this is the case for nearly all the advertisements of

this period, not just cigarettes. Products that did feature non-whites in their advertisiements included;

The Santa Fe Railroad and The National Supply Company (an Indian Chief), General Motors

Locomotives and Burlington Mills (a black steward), Aunt Jemima, Sealed Power Piston Rings and

Cambells (a black rotund female cook). It was as though all racial minorities could not only aspire to be

smokers but also to the condition of white smokers, as we shall see black people only appear if they have

earned celebrity and recognition through their careers such as sporting celebrities.

Comparison with a Similar Product

“Cigarettes are not only cheap to make, they are addictive and recession proof. Although millions have heeded the medical

evidence and stopped smoking...cigarettes still remain one of the world’s most profitable industries with annual sales of

four trillion cigarettes, worth over $40 billion. Growth in consumption in the industrialised countries of the West may be

limited to around one per cent, but it is one per cent of a market which remains hugely profitable. In 1980, Americans

spent nearly $20 billion buying 630 billion cigarettes - 135 billion more than they bought when the US Surgeon-General

issued his first Report in 1964.” Peter Taylor, The Smoke Ring. Tobacco, Money & Multinational Politics, Sphere Books,

London, 1984, page xviii.

To fully understand the use of the visual strategies in selling of cigarettes, I will compare the cigarette

with another a mass-produced cheap leisure product that is of no nutritional value - chewing gum.12

Fig 2:16 Beech-Nut Gum (1952), the central figure is a single adult woman who is also smoking. This

is in fact an advertisement for chewing gum, but the act of chewing is inherently difficult to represent

since the mouth and jaw is contorted when masticating. Any frozen image is liable to look more comedic

than elegant.

Gum has a history of being thought of as a nasty habit and distinctly un-ladylike. The woman in this

illustration however confounds this with her glamorous make-up, her fashionable clothes and costly

jewels. The cigarette itself isn’t even permitted to touch her pristine mouth. She keeps it at length with

a holder in case it smudges her lipstick. Her hand is relaxed and gloved, a sign of high chic. It is hard to

actually imagine this woman chewing gum. Adult women seem the least likely social group to chew gum

in public.

2:13

n Fig 2:16 Beech-Nut Gum advertisement, SEP, January 1952

The background is green, to reinforce peppermint flavour, and the woman is illustrated as a bodiless

vignette, not a real woman but a face for the consumer with which to identify. “If this woman chews gum

and still looks glamorous, then so can I”.13

The promotion of cigarettes as well as gum is no co-incidence. Beech-Nut Gum was owned by Philip

Morris.

Cigarettes and Chewing Gum, Why Partake ?

What is distinctive about the act of smoking? It is illuminating to compare visual strategies for selling

cigarettes with those of gum, another cheap everyday leisure product you can offer to friends, both in

economic terms and emphasising the widespread use of both products. Both cigarettes and gum have

classifications as neither food nor drug. Both have no discernible nutritional value for the consumer. So

why partake? What is distinctive about the act of smoking as opposed to chewing which, even in

opposition, we take for granted and unchallenged. (chewing tobacco was the main way to consume it

before the advent of the cigarette).

Compared with chewing gum we see what a special phenomenon is the cigarette - an addictive

‘sweet’ aimed at adults. Both products have emphasised the apparent calming effects of the product and

an intensification of concentration. Wartime advertisements for Wrigley's Spearmint Gum

fig 2:17 and fig 2:18 promised a moist and fresh mouth, something with which cigarettes strove to

associate themselves. The copy suggested that gum gave you a 'lift' and 'keeps you going'. Camel

cigarette advertisements during the late 1930's and early 1940's also used the word 'lift' and suggested

the product enhanced energy levels. See fig 2:19 showing a detail from a Camel advertisement that

appeared in FORTUNE in 1934 featuring a well-known baseball star endorsing the brand and telling the

viewer he smokes to increase his energy.

An interview with Philip K. Wrigley in 1942 helps illuminate the comparison with cigarettes as

products. FORTUNE tries to put the demand for such a cheap product in perspective.

"...the gum business is a remarkably attractive business, with an uncommonly high ratio of profits to revenues...Another

elegant characteristic of the gum business has been its stability...people chew more gum under stress, the demand for

gum was almost as steady as the demand for cigarettes." [my italics] Anon, FORTUNE, January 1943, p.98.

Further comparisons are situated within, Fascicle 8, Appendix 2:1 Audit of Cigarettes and Gum Characteristics.

2:14

n Fig 2:17 “Chewing Gum Is A War Material”, FOR, January 1943

n Fig 2:18 Detail, “Chewing Gum Is A War Material”, FOR, January 1943

n Fig 2:19 Detail, Camel advertisement, FOR, May 1934

An Adult Pacifier ?

Cigarettes and gum project an unproven case for calming body and mind.14

"Not only do the U.S Army and R.A.F. regard gum as a thirst reducer and tension breaker. Psychologist John B. Watson has

described gum as an adult pacifier. In 1939 Professor H.L.Hollingworth of Columbia wrote a monograph,

Psycho-Dynamics of Chewing, describing experiments showing that chewing gum lowers muscular tension."

Anon, FORTUNE, 1943, page 126, ibid.

Both products trumpet extraordinary, often spurious, medical evidence of consumer benefits. Fig 2:20

"THE DRIP GOES UP 200 PER CENT These Wrigley employees demonstrate how chewing gum relieves thirst. They clamp

metal tubes over the salivary glands inside their cheeks, carefully time the rate of drip from the tubes into the beaker.

Then they chew gum. Sometimes the rate goes up 200 per cent." Anon, FORTUNE, January 1943, page 99.

Other researchers measured muscular reactions during monotonous, repetitive working routines; The

subject of the test was referred to in the copy as if a machine, with phrases such as 'relieves false thirst',

'reduced fatigue', 'increased efficiency', '...made for concentration, more accurate work', 'contribute to

production'.

The major difference of course is that gum has not been associated with health problems and

anxiety.15

These aggregating and accelerating claims for the benefits of the product have greatly

influenced my own work and in particular my Surely Not artist’s book, Zone Chart and Menthol Madness

Multiples.

Two Products Fight Stress

In the advertisement for Beech-Nut Gum, (1954) fig 2:22 there is no explanation why the consumer was

tense in the first place. The product offers merely a solution to an invisible problem. Nine sports that

could induce stress are represented in outline sketches around the full-coloured product.

Chewing and smoking are rhythmic activities, the pace of chewing gum is quicker and steadier than

smoking and lasts longer. Smokers consume at different rates according to need. Research has shown

that when smokers change to a lower nicotine content brand, their smoking technique alters, drawing

harder and longer to take in more of the smoke and nicotine. Gum is synonymous with casual everyday

scenes of people’s activity - from packet to mouth, offering, unwrapping the strip, folding it into the

mouth and chewing. The ritual of smoking avoids stasis and the fear of inactivity. Are inactive people

seen as useless, lazy or suffering the anxiety of not knowing what they are supposed to be doing? As in

gum, so in cigarettes.

2:15

n Fig 2:21 Marlboro, advertisement SEP, August 1951

n Fig 2:20 Detail, “Chewing Gum Is A War

Material”, FOR, January 1943

Despite clear claims as to the benefits of the product for the consumer, advertisements were

ingenious as to contain and project conflicting claims as seen earlier, Camel advertisements stress

energising effects but also mention the calming of nerves, simultaneously a sedative and stimulant.

Marlboro concentrated on the purported calming effects of cigarettes. They identified anxious,

young mothers. In fig 2:21 the baby recommends another cigarette, “Before you scold me, Mom....

maybe you’d better light up a Marlboro”. “You need never feel over-smoked” an encouragement to

chain smoke the product to keep nerves calm. It was indicative of the early directions of the U.K.

Government’s Health Reports (1962) that the Royal College of Physicians felt it necessary to write “there

is no evidence to suggest that widespread discontinuation or diminution in the habit of smoking would

result in any increase in neurotic disorders...”16

In the light of products sold directly to calm the anxious, why on earth did healthy people need to

calm down? What was causing the tension that Beech-Nut Gum were alluding to in 1954, fig 2:20. What

was making people so anxious that regular chewing and smoking were advocated? Why did the national

euphoria after 1945 so quickly contract into anxiety?

“I see American magazines in the cafe and the bulk of their text is advertising for tobacco, alcohol and absurd motor cars

that promise - quite literally promise - to enable you to forget the squalor, spiritual poverty and monotony of selfishness.

Never, in the history of civilisation, has one seen a great nation singlemindedly bent on drugging itself.” John Cheever,

Bullet Park, Vintage, London, 1969 [1967], p.168.

In the next section we will look at the need to reassure the consumer and look at what was making

people anxious about the product and their lives during this period. How could this nervousness be

soothed? How can anxiety be generated where none existed and, in specific terms, how can the image

maker create visual reassurances?

2:16

n Fig 2:22 Beech-Nut Gum, advertisement SEP, May 1954

F2:01

Endnotes to Fascicle Two

1

The fictional brand is something I have explored in my Artist’s Books and Multiples.

Lemorette - the lemon flavoured cigarette using technology and science to promote itself.

Damp - the brand representing all that is absurd, in the depiction of smoking dogs and talking cigarette packets.

Elysian - the menthol brand that uses nature and anxiety about the environment to promote itself.

Damp Flat Productions is the parent company, the company name under which I produce all of my visual work. This allows me to

distance myself from the image of an artist and enables me to feel freer to act out roles such as ruthless promoter, huckster,

desperate salesman, dubious scientist or consumer’s friend.

2

See Stephen Baker, Advertising Layout and Art Direction, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1960. “Essentials of Good

Composition”, Chapter 3, pp.39-56, contains diagrams of how the reader’s eyes move around a single page advertisement.

Frank H. Young, Technique of Advertising Layout, Partridge Publications, London, 1947 [1935], also contains a description of

balance and weighting in layout design in the section “MOVEMENT: leading the reader’s eye”. pp. 35-39.

3

For useful explorations into the nature of ‘celebrity’ and ‘the Star’ see the following:

Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", Section IX, X and XI, pp.231-236, Illuminations,

Fontana, London, 1973 [1936]. Roland Barthes, “The Romans in Films”, Mythologies, Paladin, London, 1973 [1953], pp.26-28.

For more detailed studies see also:

Leo Braudy, The Frenzy of Renown : Fame & Its History, Vintage Edition, London, 1997.

Richard Dyer and Paul McDonald, Stars, British Film Institute, London, 1998.

Joshua Gamson, Claims to Fame : Celebrity in Contemporary America, University of California Press, CA.,1994.

4

The concept of the T-Zone was a striking one, and appealed to visual people including the painter James Rosenquist. He painted a

large image depicting the T-Zone woman from Camel. See Constance W. Glenn, Time Dust Rosenquist, Complete Graphics: 1962-

1992, Rizzoli, New York, 1993.

5

See feature, “Philip Morris & Co.” FORTUNE, March 1936, p.106ff

6

See the Glossary in Fascicle Eight for more information on cigarette and tobacco terminology.

7

For more detail on the history of the cultivation of tobacco and the development of the cigarette, See Maurice Corina, Trust in

Tobacco, Michael Joseph, London, 1975.

F2:02

8

See Milton Moskowitz (ed.), Everybody’s Business, Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1980. Chapter 14, “Light Up and Drink Up”,

pp.765-783.

9

An early version of the pipe was recorded in 1590 in Brazil although there have been discoveries of what are thought to be pipes

dating back to 2,500 years. For an account of the origins of Pipe Smoking, see Charles Graves, A Pipe Smoker’s Guide. Icon Books,

London, 1969. “Chapter 1”, pp.7-18.

10

See “Smoking” By Gus Parr, Sight and Sound, December 1997, Fascicle 7, Issue 12. pp.30-4. During the days of the Hays Production

Code, the lighting and sharing of the cigarette was one of the ways of suggesting sexual intimacy. In 1966, however, the revision

of the code meant sex could at last appear as itself onscreen, relegating the cigarette to a post-coital cliché. More recently (1997)

Hillary Clinton, among others, lambasted the film industry for glamourising smoking. The cigarette has now become the means by

which we recognise the ‘baddie’, a modern version of the ‘black hat’ from the old cowboy movie. The predictable back-lash has

most recently seen cigarettes promoted as a symbol of independence and defiance.

11

In the feature “11 Substitutes For Smoking”, Pageant, 1957, eleven ‘reasons’ were given for needing to smoke cigarettes, there

then followed a suggested substitute, the article was written tongue in cheek but with a tinge of reality:

1. “You smoke to relieve tension” Substitute: Chewing Gum

2. “You smoke to pep you up” Substitute: Raisins

3. “You smoke to help you think” Substitute: Chewing a fountain pen

4. “You smoke to combat loneliness” Substitute: A crochet hook

5. “you smoke to express sociability” Substitute: Chewing a straw

6. “You smoke to reward yourself for effort and for a restful change of pace” Substitute: Candy

7. “You smoke to ease restlessness” Substitute: A gadget

8. “You smoke because it involves a satisfying ritual” Substitute: Herbal cigarettes

9. “You smoke for sensory pleasure” Substitute: Flavoured toothpick

10. “You smoke to conform to custom” Substitute: Cigarette holders (artificial cigarette)

11. “You smoke to avoid over-eating” Substitute: Pills

Anon, “11 Substitutes For Smoking”, Pageant, October 1957, Vol.13, No.4., Hillman Periodicals Inc., New York, pp.84-87.

12

The U.S. public spent about $120 million annually for gum during the 1940's. In 1940 Wm.Wrigley Jr.Co. showed net sales of $36

million, with manufacturing costs and raw materials accounting for only $13 million, sales and marketing equalling $11 million, the

profit after tax was still in excess of $8 million.

"Wrigley has been spending around 25 per cent of its revenue on advertising, a rate matched not even by the cigarette

industry. Imagine American manufacturers spending some $18 billion a year on advertising (they spent less than $3 billion

in the biggest year), and you have an idea to what extent sales and promotion are to the gum business." Anon. “Chewing

Gum Is A War Material.” FORTUNE, January 1943, page 99.

13

"Essential Gum may be sold in peacetime not as a minor pleasure but as a major necessity. No more need the masticating

jaw be regarded as a sign of vulgarity...the United Nations will chew more gum than ever to relieve tension, monotony,

and false thirst...the future of gum is obvious." FORTUNE, 1943, p.136, ibid.

14

The promotion of gum still focussed on its apparent effects on the body. The Subsistence Research Laboratory of the Chicago

Quartermaster Depot put some sticks of gum in trial ration packs in 1940-1 believing it to reduce thirst and keep the mouth moist

as well as acting as a substitute for toothpaste in keeping teeth clean. In actual combat, where smoking was prohibited, it

substituted for cigarettes in apparently reducing nervous tension. Wrigley's research laboratories ran many experiments to

attempt to prove gum increased saliva flow and could reduce muscular nervous tension. The image Fig 2:14 shows one of the

‘saliva tests’ run by the Wrigley researchers during the 1940's. Wrigley gave free samples of gum to essential workers in a dozen

factories and recorded the results.

"In plants where smoking is prohibited, announced Wrigley, gum chewing relieved the craving to smoke, and thus

eliminated many trips to the rest room for cigarettes. Gum chewing reduced nervous tension and boredom, and so made

for concentration, more accurate work. By stimulating the flow of saliva, it relieved false thirst, and so eliminated many a

trip to the fountain. It helped reduce fatigue. " FORTUNE, 1943, p.126, ibid.

15

In 1978 Wrigley was forced to remove the ingredient xylitol, a natural sweetener from its sugarfree brand, Orbit, when it was

named as a possible carcinogen. Gum has also been cited as a contributing factor in stomach ulcers.

16

The Royal College of Physicians, “Smoking and Health”, a Report of the Royal College of Physicians on Smoking in relation to cancer

of the lung and other diseases, Pitman Medical Publishing Co., London, 1962.

For a full listing of the medical reports written about ‘smoking’ published the U.K. and the U.S., see the ‘Bibliography and

References’ section of Fascicle 8.

F2:03

The Safe Cigarette

The Safe Cigarette: Visual strategies of reassurance in American advertisements for cigarettes, 1945-1964.

Volume Number: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Practice-Based Ph.D. Jackie Batey www.thesafecigarette.blogspot.com