MAKING SMOKING LADYLIKE
Initially smoking was the province of men. Women were not only discouraged from smoking, they were often prohibited from doing so in public and sometimes even arrested for defying this convention.
Although these early rebels undoubtedly contributed to making smoking among women acceptable, in the end the profit motive was probably even more powerful in driving the trend. Inevitably the tobacco manufacturers realized that the benefits of marketing cigarettes to men as a macho or gentlemanly custom were far outweighed by the benefits of doubling their potential customer base by selling to women - all women, not just the limited audience that might respond to messages construing cigarettes as women's "torches of freedom."
A major step forward (or rather backward) came in 1928, when the advertising firm of Lord & Thomas launched a campaign to capitalize on the weight suppressing effects of nicotine by telling Americans to "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet" - later modified to "Reach for a Lucky instead..." to fend off lawsuit threats by angry confectioners. Although some of the ads urged men, too, to remain svelte by smoking, the campaign was primarily aimed at women.
No mention of this development would be complete without reference to Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew and the public relations pioneer who was responsible for convincing Americans that paper cups were more sanitary than china cups, that bacon-and-eggs was the all-American breakfast, and other assaults to public health, ecology, and the American psyche. His assignment by the American Tobacco Company was to increase Lucky Strike sales among women, which he approached by promoting the ideal of thinness as a central aspect of beauty. To further this goal, he hired photographers, artists, newspaper and magazine writers, and even physicians to encourage smoking instead of eating. Homemakers were persuaded that keeping cigarettes on hand for this purpose was a social necessity.
Having hit upon and indeed to some extent created an issue that mattered not just to activists but to women across the ideological and demographic spectrum, the tobacco industry sought to make smoking part of the daily lives of women everywhere. Through advertising and swag like earrings and dainty cigarette lighters, it began in earnest to domesticate the cigarette by fitting it into the typical roles and interests of women, including food preparation, home decor, personal appearance, and organized social activity.
What followed, probably peaking in the years between 1930 and 1960, was the proliferation of products designed to normalize smoking among women (what anthropologists refer to as the "material culture" of smoking). Products designed to help incorporate cigarettes into the meal, to make cigarettes part of one's beauty routine by pairing them with powder and lipstick, or to encourage smoking-based social interaction at card games and coffee klatches via cute matching ashtray sets were sold to smokers and to anyone with a smoker on his or her gift list.
In 1964 the Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health documenting the disastrous health consequences of smoking was released, and gradually, thanks in large part to a prolonged public health campaign vigorously opposed by the tobacco industry, the tide began to turn. These products - essentially tobacco smoking paraphernalia - have now become collectibles and oddities, found mainly on the dusty shelves of antique shops and second-hand emporia, trotted out only upon request.
In fact, many of these objects and gadgets are truly beautiful, clever, or both. Domesticating the Cigarette, the Virtual Museum of Women's Smoking Artifacts, is intended to rescue a few of these relics from oblivion and make them virtually available both to those who are too young to remember them and to those who enjoy a good stroll down Memory Lane. Please wander through the four wings of the museum, taking time to admire both the aesthetic qualities and historic significance of these products. Or join me for some guided tours - twelve 3-5 minute videos in which I discuss, display, and and in some instances demonstrate some of my favorite items.
Although these objects may appear quaint, and efforts to appeal to women have become subtler, their success in welcoming women to tobacco use has left a devastating legacy of disease and addiction among women around the world. It is worth taking a moment to reflect upon this consequence as well.
Although these early rebels undoubtedly contributed to making smoking among women acceptable, in the end the profit motive was probably even more powerful in driving the trend. Inevitably the tobacco manufacturers realized that the benefits of marketing cigarettes to men as a macho or gentlemanly custom were far outweighed by the benefits of doubling their potential customer base by selling to women - all women, not just the limited audience that might respond to messages construing cigarettes as women's "torches of freedom."
A major step forward (or rather backward) came in 1928, when the advertising firm of Lord & Thomas launched a campaign to capitalize on the weight suppressing effects of nicotine by telling Americans to "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet" - later modified to "Reach for a Lucky instead..." to fend off lawsuit threats by angry confectioners. Although some of the ads urged men, too, to remain svelte by smoking, the campaign was primarily aimed at women.
No mention of this development would be complete without reference to Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew and the public relations pioneer who was responsible for convincing Americans that paper cups were more sanitary than china cups, that bacon-and-eggs was the all-American breakfast, and other assaults to public health, ecology, and the American psyche. His assignment by the American Tobacco Company was to increase Lucky Strike sales among women, which he approached by promoting the ideal of thinness as a central aspect of beauty. To further this goal, he hired photographers, artists, newspaper and magazine writers, and even physicians to encourage smoking instead of eating. Homemakers were persuaded that keeping cigarettes on hand for this purpose was a social necessity.
Having hit upon and indeed to some extent created an issue that mattered not just to activists but to women across the ideological and demographic spectrum, the tobacco industry sought to make smoking part of the daily lives of women everywhere. Through advertising and swag like earrings and dainty cigarette lighters, it began in earnest to domesticate the cigarette by fitting it into the typical roles and interests of women, including food preparation, home decor, personal appearance, and organized social activity.
What followed, probably peaking in the years between 1930 and 1960, was the proliferation of products designed to normalize smoking among women (what anthropologists refer to as the "material culture" of smoking). Products designed to help incorporate cigarettes into the meal, to make cigarettes part of one's beauty routine by pairing them with powder and lipstick, or to encourage smoking-based social interaction at card games and coffee klatches via cute matching ashtray sets were sold to smokers and to anyone with a smoker on his or her gift list.
In 1964 the Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health documenting the disastrous health consequences of smoking was released, and gradually, thanks in large part to a prolonged public health campaign vigorously opposed by the tobacco industry, the tide began to turn. These products - essentially tobacco smoking paraphernalia - have now become collectibles and oddities, found mainly on the dusty shelves of antique shops and second-hand emporia, trotted out only upon request.
In fact, many of these objects and gadgets are truly beautiful, clever, or both. Domesticating the Cigarette, the Virtual Museum of Women's Smoking Artifacts, is intended to rescue a few of these relics from oblivion and make them virtually available both to those who are too young to remember them and to those who enjoy a good stroll down Memory Lane. Please wander through the four wings of the museum, taking time to admire both the aesthetic qualities and historic significance of these products. Or join me for some guided tours - twelve 3-5 minute videos in which I discuss, display, and and in some instances demonstrate some of my favorite items.
Although these objects may appear quaint, and efforts to appeal to women have become subtler, their success in welcoming women to tobacco use has left a devastating legacy of disease and addiction among women around the world. It is worth taking a moment to reflect upon this consequence as well.