Tobacco has been part of the fabric of America since establishment of the country itself. Tobacco was the cash crop that saved the Jamestown colony and helped the first settlers gain a footing in the new western land. Tobacco continued to thrive in America through the 17th, 18th, and 19th century, being consumed in the form of raw pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and cigars. Not until the invention of the cigarette-making machine by James Bonsack in 1881 did cigarette smoking become more widely popular (History of Tobacco). This was the start to the rise of cigarette smoking craze that eventually plagued America for the next century and even still today. Over the last 100 years or so we’ve seen cigarettes spike in popularity and be given a sense of coolness and beauty, peak in their use in the 1960’s and fall into a being seen as a taboo and undesirable activity. This shift was caused by indisputable evidence of the negative health effects, strong regulations on cigarette advertising, and control the sale and use of cigarettes.
Cigarettes were not always as hugely popular as they were in the late 1900’s, but the beginning half of the 20th century was marked with every increasing rates of cigarette smoking and acceptance of cigarettes in society. Two major events caused sharp increases in cigarette usage in the first few decades of the 1900’s. First, 1913, R.J. Reynolds launched Camel Brand cigarettes, which are still a major company in cigarette production and sales today. They offered a much less harsh cigarette that was pre-packed and used specialty cigarette paper. On top of putting out a more desirable and innovative product, they were the first company to focus largely on advertisement to increase their sales. They created the slogan “I’d Walk a Mile for Camel” and sold 425 million packs in their first year alone (The Marketing of Camel Brand Cigarettes). The other major event that lead to the sudden increase in cigarette popularity was World War I. During the war, all G.I.’s were issued cigarettes in their supplies and provided cigarettes daily on the battle front (History of Tobacco). The negative health effects of cigarettes had yet to be discovered and accepted, so the military blindly encourage cigarette smoking for their soldiers as a way of relieving stress and boredom. Back home, cigarette production skyrocket to supply the entire U.S. military with millions of cigarettes a day. Many women worked in these factories and took up smoking during the war as well. With the increase in women smokers, thousands of men returning home addicted to nicotine, and smoking becoming ever more accepted and promoted in society, smoking rates boomed in the late 10’s and early 20’s.
During the 1920’s, cigarette smoking grew in popularity across all demographics. Cigarettes began to push cigars, pipe tobacco, and chewing tobacco out of the limelight in the tobacco industry and eventually became the leading medium of tobacco consumption by the end of the 20’s. During this time, paper advertisement continued to increase. Many depict classily dressed men smoking cigarettes commenting on the refreshing and delicious tastes of various brands. In 1928 there also the introduction of advertisement directed specifically toward women with the “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet” campaign by the Lucky Strike Brand cigarette company. Here is some of the first evidence of cigarette companies making health claims on their cigarettes. This campaign advertised cigarettes as a means of monitoring weight by encouraging women to smoke a cigarette instead of eat a sugary or fattening food.
Similarly WWI, U.S. soldiers during WWII were provided with a near infinite amount of cigarettes to smoke overseas. By 1944, roughly 300 billion cigarettes were produced a year, 75% of which were going to men in the military (History of Tobacco). Cigarette use was promoted just like that of WWI which led to thousands of men returning home addicted to nicotine, where they continued their habit back in America.
After the war, cigarette companies continued aggressively advertising cigarettes. Paper advertisements depicted smoking as a cool, social activity and displayed attractive men and women with cigarettes in their hands and mouths. Once televisions became a household item, cigarette companies took full advantage of that as a medium for advertisement as well by sponsoring news channels and popular shows such as “Camel News Caravan” and “I Love Lucy”.
By 1965, 42% of adults in the US regularly smoked cigarettes (Cummings). After the two world wars, which created smoking habits in many men, and aggressive advertisement, cigarette were everywhere. Cigarettes during this time can be thought of as cell phones of today; everyone always had one out. The smell of smoke was constantly in the background since there were no regulations on where an individual could smoke. People smoked at their homes, in offices, in classrooms, and even in hospitals. Smoking was more than just something people did to pass the time or to accompany a task, however. People smoked to promote social status. They smoked to be cool or to be sexy. At the time, cigarette smoking had so many positive connotations that it isn’t hard to believe that many people smoked just to fit in and make themselves look better, even if they actually hated the act. America was a smoking nation. People loved their cigarettes and love those who used them. The few health warnings that were available at the time were largely ignored, putting the cigarette in a perfect, positive, desirable light.
Cigarettes were the perfect product. This did not last however, as 1964 marked the peak of cigarettes consumption rates where they have gradually fallen since then. One of the largest contributors to people’s shift in opinion on smoking and decreased consumption rates was the accepted and influence of the negative health effects. While there had been evidence connecting smoking to increased rates of lung cancer and heart disease as early as the 1940’s, the one piece of evidence got greater media coverage than the 1964 Surgeon General’s report. After consulting over 7,000 scientific articles, members of the board and the Surgeon General were able to make the undisputable claim that smoking is a leading cause of lung cancer. This news “hit the country like a bombshell” (Cummings). 78% of people believed that smoking causes cancer in 1968 compared to 44% just a decade earlier (Quitting Smoking Statistics). More and more people were becoming concerned with the health effects of smoking which is a major reason why many people do not smoke today.
People today are much more conscious of their health and are concerned what goes in their bodies. Every smoker has heard “those are going to kill you eventually” or some type of similar phrase in hopes of someone getting them to quit. We see that people have become much more health conscious through more than just the medium of cigarette smoking. Regardless of whether or not it actually helps, many people eat “organic”, “fat-free”, or “gluten-free” foods in hopes of improving their health. Because of this increase desire to stay healthy, as well as better education on the negative effects of cigarettes, almost everyone knows that smoking is bad for you. By 1999, 92% of the population believed that cigarette smoking was a cause of lung cancer. Cigarettes have not just lost their positive persona, but taken on one of negativity and unhealthiness. They are even thought of as the baseline unhealthy activity by which people compare other unhealthy things. Because we all know how bad cigarettes are, it makes sense to say “drinking a can of soda is just as bad as smoking 2 cigarettes” or other similar metaphors. Cigarettes are no longer seen as a symbol of sophistication and sexiness, but one of disgust. What once made men and women attractive now has the opposite effect. A survey taken by Match.com found that 58% of its users view cigarette smoking as a deal breaker (Nestor). The understanding of the negative effects have translated through society as more than just concerns on health. They are now seen as ways of judging character and attractiveness. The public opinion has shifted from cigarette smoking from being a normal and desirable quality too one that turns people off and causes them to pass judgement. Of course some people still some, but many people that smoke today realize that what they are doing is bad for them and understand the negative connotations towards their actions. A study conducted in 2015 found that 70% of current smokers want to quit (Quitting Smoking Statistics).
Even though mass media coverage of the negative health effects did inform people and help reduce cigarette consumption, tobacco companies had such a huge hold on the American people through advertisement that many continued to smoke. While the 1964 Surgeon General Journal informed the public about health effects, cigarette advertisements were still run on radio, print, and television at astounding rates. It is estimated that between 1940 and 2005 $250 billion has been spent on cigarette advertisement. In 1967 the Federal Trade Commission stated that it was “impossible for Americans of almost any age avoid cigarette advertising” (Cummings). To combat the aggressive advertisement by tobacco companies, the government and anti-smoking organization started advertising the negative effects of cigarette smoking. The first cautionary labels were applied to cigarette packaging in 1966. In 1967 the Federal Communications Commission Fairness Doctrine was implemented to offset cigarette advertising by making broadcasters air an anti-smoking ad for every pro smoking ad. Eventually, in 1971, an all-out ban on cigarette advertising for radio and TV was implemented with the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act (Cummings).
After the ban on pro-cigarette advertisement, government action to reduce cigarette smoking continued long after the 70s and is still seeing activity today. While the US government is reluctant to make cigarette smoking illegal for a wide array of reasons, they have made many efforts to reduce the smoking rates to improve public health. This is very different from the early 1900’s in which the government was largely promoting cigarettes. Pro-smoking advertisements were never made by the government per se, but their propaganda used during WWI and WWII created a very pro-smoking environment in America. Cigarettes were a means of helping soldier relax and reduce stress on the battle field. Anything to help the men overseas was seen as a good thing and smoking became a patriotic act. The government may not have intended for this to happen, but they undoubtable aided in smoking becoming an acceptable and desirable activity in America. But once the government recognized the effects of smoking on the public’s health, they had to fix the problem they helped create. Various laws had to be implemented to reduce second hand smoke in public areas and to prevent children and teenagers from starting smoking. In 2012, the government spent $54 million on anti-smoking campaigns. They are having to implement plans into action to fix problems that could have potentially been avoided.
During the times of peak cigarette usage and even a few decades after, the public opinion on smoking was in a vicious loop. Smoking was viewed as attractive and a small boost to social status which encouraged people that would have otherwise avoided cigarettes to start smoking, which deeper engrained smoking as a social norm in America. Until conscious efforts were put in by organizations to put smoking in a negative light, this cycle persisted.
Modern smoking advertisements are only too warn of the harm of smoking and discourage people from partaking. One example is the Truth Campaign funded by the American Legacy Foundation which uses social media and viral advertisement to discourage smoking in teens and young adults. These ads and campaigns have been very effective in reducing rates of smoking and creating a culture of anti-smoking Americans. While the modern anti-smoking ad campaigns are largely seen as a positive force that improved public health, they are not all that different from the aggressive advertisement that the big tobacco companies used in the year prior to the 1971 advertisement ban. The messages are simply reversed. Instead of depicting attractive women and smart and cultured gentlemen smoking to promote cigarettes as a product of beauty and sophistication, modern ads show dying and diseased victims of cancer to connect cigarettes with death and bodily harm. Instead of cigarette being “mild” and “relaxing”, modern ads show that cigarettes are “harsh” and “addictive”. Both the pro and anti-smoking advertisement campaigns that arose in the past century were extremely affective. The rates of smoking rose and fell in correlation to specific media coverage and product introductions. The rise and fall of cigarette acceptance in America is one of the most apparent examples of the public susceptibility to advertisement. Even today, anti-smoking ads are in effects to further reduce the rates of cigarette usage in America.
But what if the government had just turned a blind eye to the aggressive tobacco advertisement that ran all the way up until the 1970’s? Would smoking rates have continued to increase? Luckily, government and private anti-smoking organizations have done great work in informing the public on the negative effects of smoking and brought them to a much more manageable level. But this was all after 60 years of smoking being built up and accepted into society. Had the government payed attention to the research pointing to the connection between cigarettes and lung cancer that was present in some form as early as the 1920’s, the millions of deaths caused by smoking may have been prevented or prolonged.
Cigarettes are still one of the leading causes of preventable death in America. Should the decreasing trend of smoking rates continue, many thousands of lives will be improved over the upcoming decades. The government and other anti-smoking organizations are largely to thank for the shift in opinion on cigarette smoking in America. What was once a common place for every American has become negatively associated with unhealthy and gross behavior. This shift in opinion has influenced many to quit and avoid cigarette smoking, which all results in a healthier American public.
Works Cited
Cummings, K. Michael, and Robert N. Proctor. “The Changing Public Image of Smoking in the United States: 1964–2014.” Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention : A Publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, Cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
“History of Tobacco.” History of Tobacco. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
“The Marketing of Camel Brand Cigarettes.” Think Zag. N.p., 10 Dec. 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
Nestor, Theo P. “Is Your Love Life Going Up In Smoke?” Match.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
“Quitting Smoking Statistics.” Statistic Brain. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.