Does Cigarette Attract Women?
The behaviors that are related to cigarette consumption in the United States have altered considerably in the course of the last one hundred years. After a sudden escalation in percentages of tobacco consumption during the first half of the previous century, the overall cigarette use of the adult population in the United States began to decrease after reaching its highest point in 1964. This decline was a result of the better awareness regarding the harmful effects of smoking on the health of the citizens, which has been supported by the United States Surgeon General’s Reports (Cummings & Proctor, 2014). As a result, in 1964, the tobacco industry witnessed its gradual decline. Nonetheless, in order to improve the sales of cigarettes, tobacco companies argued that the use of pseudo-scientific claims, for example, that smoking is appealing to females, would improve the cigarette consumption. This approach was used for the famous ad campaign for Tipalet cigarettes in 1969.
Tobacco industry progressed rapidly in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, following the invention of automatic cigarette rolling machines and the rise of advertising and promotion on an unprecedented scale. Tobacco abuse continued to advance in spite of the disapproval of the abstinence supporters and spiritual leaders. An attitude that cigarette use would result in substance abuse and drug addiction, for the most part among younger population was a rather unpopular opinion. In the course of the first fifty years of the 20th century, on the other hand, the general population along with a vast majority of the doctors refused to acknowledge the substantial health risks from cigarette abuse. In spite of the fact that the increase in the documented incidents of lung cancer stimulated epidemiological studies that started in the beginning of the 20th century, the tobacco industry continued to flourish (Cummings & Proctor, 2014). As soon as the Prohibition ended in 1933 and the abstinence campaigns deteriorated, tobacco marketing before the 1950s was distinguished by the ads, which frequently created various health claims that had no scientific confirmation, such as an ad by Tipalet. This advertisement encouraged men to start smoking and buy cigarettes by suggesting to blow smoke in the face of a woman (Cummings & Proctor, 2014). Moreover, the supporters of ‘Camel’ tobacco brand were inspired to smoke a cigarette during the Thanksgiving meal; the ad claimed that a cigarette after each course helped to digest the food properly. Apart from a short period of time near the times of Great Depression, use of tobacco for each citizen of the United States grew bit by bit up to the year 1953. By the second half of the 20th century, partially because of the false advertisement campaigns, 47 percent of the adult American population was a part of the tobacco industry (58% of men and 36% of women smoking cigarettes regularly). In addition, in spite of being aware that those advertisements were false, 51% of the doctors and …
